


The Road To Us

by ADHDanddangerous



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, History, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-12 05:19:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11730321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADHDanddangerous/pseuds/ADHDanddangerous
Summary: They may be part of someone else's country, but if you think that means they follow the other's rules, you're wrong.They make their own-legally and personally.The path they forged to get to where they are took hundreds of years to pave, countless tears, bloody battles, multiple scars, and a few years they want to forget, but they aren't looking back.Vilhelmina Väinämöinen-Oxenstierna, Alvilda Højgaard, Erinak SørensenThe Åland Islands, Greenland, the Faroe IslandsThe proud autonomous Nordics





	1. Terra Incognita

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:  
> Greenlandic:  
> utoqqatserpung: Sorry  
> Swedish:  
> Hallå: Hello | Vad heter du kära?: What is your name dear?

"Hey, Alvilda! Happy anniversery!" A boy looked confused, "Wait, what? Alvi, you're dating someone?!" Alvilda looked at her companion blankly, "Erinak, you are as bad as Alfred. No, I'm happily single. Helmi's talking about my home rule." The teen grinned, "Exactly! 65 years... minus one day... 'cos it's a really bad idea to have an aniversary on April First... But I made you some Pepparkaka!" Erinak chuckled, "Jeez, it's _April_ , Helmi, not Christmas. You really are you're dads' daughter!" Helmi huffed, "I don't see where everyone gets that from..." Alvilda took the bag of the cookies and smirked, "Well, it can't be any worse than your Surströmming." Helmi sighed, "I guess that is an acquired taste... I don't see how you guys don't like it..." Erinak laughed, "Swedes!" "I AM NOT SWEDISH!" 

Alvilda sighed, "Jeez, sixty five years since home rule. I guess I'm officially old." Erinak shrugged, "You've only been Autonomous for under eight, though." "Yeah." Alvilda chuckled, "Seems like yesterday I was getting interrogated by vikings on my beach."

Erinak grinned, "I know, I can still remember running into Emil and Lukas when I was playing with Søkongen on the coast, and now I've been autonomous for four years! Soon we're going to be complaining like Mr. Yao!" Alvilda rolled her eyes, "Jeez, you and those auks are like Emil and puffins." "Hey! My auks are smaller and better!" 

Helmi let out a small giggle, "Naw~ How sweet! You guys think you feel old? I'm celebrating my 93rd year of autonomy next month! And I got two little brothers-" Alvilda frowned, "No matter what your dad says-the internet is _not_ a legal means of adoption..." "For humans. Countries are questionable." Helmi rolled her eyes, "-a dog, a duck, and two male parental figures-" "Just call them your dads!" "Then how would anyone tell who I was yelling for? Isä and Pappa makes much more sense! And no one gets them confused!" Helmi let out a small laugh, "But I remember the day Pappa came-and the day Isä came-so clearly. It's funny, huh?"

Erinak frowned, rubbing his side unconsciously, and the girls knew he was thinking about the scar Alfred had left-many years ago-in an accident. That wasn't the only time Alfred had accidentally scarred him, but it was the worse. "Sometimes I wish I had just driven all the Europeans who came to Greenland off... maybe then things would've stayed so simple and peaceful..." Helmi frowned, "Yeah, changing hands so many times... so many battles... so much blood spilled..." Alvilda nodded, "I wish I really did bite Onkle Ber, get rid of anyone who set foot on the island... No offence to your dad, Helmi, but the sixteenth century is a mass of bad memories." Helmi looked at the ground, "We all have that one century. The eighteenth century for me." Erinak nodded, "The twentieth for me." Alvilda scowled, "That was a terrible century for everyone..." 

Helmi smiled happily, "But we're still alive, autonomous, and have a lovely stack of Pepparkaka I made! Now tell me if they're any good! I tried a new recipe!" Alvilda rolled her eyes, "How are you so cheery?" Helmi laughed, "Years of practice!"

Although they were laughing and joking-the path to their self-rule was painful-more so than they care to admit.

* * *

** C. 800, Faroe islands: Norse come to the Faroes **

A young man grinned, looking at the map, "Hey! Lukas! I think this is a new one!" "I said that on the boat." "Hey! You hear that, Berwald?! New island!" The man looked over at his companion, who was intensely... glaring... at a bush. "...Hey, Berwald, that's a bush." "Ja." The tall man reached into the bush and pulled out a young girl with dark blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a heavy wool dress and knitted shawl. "AHHHHH! PUT ME DOWN, TROLL! I'LL BITE YOU! I'M NOT SCARED! NOW PUT ME DOWN BEFORE YOU REGRET IT!" "AHAHAHA, she called you a troll!" Lukas pulled on his companion's cloak, choking him, "Shut up." "GAH!" "PUT ME DOWN! PUT! ME! DOWN!" Lukas sighed, taking the small girl, "What are you doing?" "Well I was yelling, but now I'm answering your question." "AHAHAHA!" "Why are you here?" "Can you put me down first? 'Cos I really don't like this 'being passed around' thing." sighing, the Norwegian sat the small girl down, and she immediately straightened out her dress before shrugging, "I don't know... I just kinda... am." She pointed at the tall men, "Why are you here?" The man with spiked hair smiled, "We're vikings!" "My name is Lukas, the loud one is Mathais, and that's Berwald. What's your name?" "Alvilda." 

Lukas could tell-his sixth sense was screaming it at him-this girl was  _not_ human. And it seemed the others could see her, so she wasn't one of the many magical creatures he saw, so that left her with being a country.

Mathais picked the small girl up, "Hey, Luke! Can we keep her?!" "I'M NOT A PET, MISTER!"

* * *

** 986, Greenland: Greenland is settled by Icelanders and Norwegians **

A young boy laughed, chasing after a small black bird reminiscent of a tiny puffin. He was dressed in pelts and hides to protect against the weather, his shaggy brown hair framed his face, eyes barely visible beneath his hood. Suddenly, the auk let out a loud call of alarm, skittering off fearfully in a random direction, causing the boy to try to stop, only to skid across the rock and into a pair of legs. Rubbing his head, he frowned, "Ah, _utoqqatserpung_..." "Huh?" Blinking, he could tell from the clothing that this person wasn't from around here. Frowning, he looked up to see two tall, pale skinned, fair-haired boys. Pointing, he let out a shrill yell, "Gh-Ghosts!" "Ghost?" The older boy looked around, "No, but there is a troll... and quite a few sprites..." Curiously, the young boy poked the legs of the visitor before letting out a sigh of relief, "Oh... you're not a ghost..." 

Perking up, he rapidly circled the two boys, curiously looking at them, "Why are you so pale? What's wrong with your eyes? How come your hair's all snowy? And  _what are you wearing_? Aren't you cold? Where are you from? Are you sick?" Gasping, he looked up at the two slightly panicked, "DO YOU NEED HELP?! ARE YOU GOING TO DIE?! GAH, DON'T DIE! I'M TOO YOUNG FOR YOU TO DIE!" "..." "..." Calming down, he paused, "Wait, who are you?" "I don't know. Nothing. Genetics. Clothes. A little. Norway. No. No. No. Lukas." The younger of the two foreigners sighed, "Emil." "Oh. I'm Erinak! I hope it's nice to meet you!" "..." "...Yeah." 

* * *

** 10th Century, Åland Islands: Large number of people start coming to Åland **

A young girl stood at the edge of the beach, warily watching the approaching forms on the horizon. Her eyes were the same color as the sea she stood in front of, a bright Admiral Blue, her light blonde hair reached her shoulders was held back by a plain white bandanna. Her outfit consisted of a simple white kirtle under a black apron dress with simple embroidery patterns at the top.

She recognized the shapes, they were those of sailing ships, but she had never seen any that large before. She was afraid, but her curiosity overtook her fear, wanting to know who was coming. Once they anchored off shore, she ran to where the landing boats were heading, wanting to be the first to greet (and question) the new visitors. Picking up a piece of driftwood just in case they weren't nice, she waited, silently waiting for the landing party. The first man to come on shore was a very tall blonde man in a dark green tunic. The young girl tilted her head, "Hi." The taller man looked around before the young blonde yelled, "I KNOW I'M SHORT BUT YA DON'T HAVE TA BE MEAN 'BOUT IT!" The man crouched down to get on eye level with the small girl, "Hallå." The small girl huffed, "If you're gonna be a meanie, ya can get offa my island!" She angrily waved the small piece of driftwood back and forth in front of her, but it had no effect on the man. "I'LL FIGHT YA!"

After stopping to take a breath, tired from her 'threatening' after only about a minute, the visitor calmly asked, "Vad heter du kära?" The young girl blinked, "My name? Oh, uh, Vilhelmina... But Helmi is better." "Berwald. Nice ta meet ya." He patted Helmi's head, prompting her to blink in surprise. She had heard about scary guys with big ships that set places on fire-And Berwald was tall and a little scary, but he didn't seem to be a pyromaniac.

"What are ya doing here, Mister?" "...Lookin'." Helmi lit up, "Oh! Oh! I can show ya 'round! C'mon! C'mon! There 'r lotsa things ta see!!" 

* * *

Helmi was running towards the shore. She had been a ways inland, but had heard talk around the town about some large ships off shore. When she reached the shore, she saw a blonde man and frowned. He was too short, and his stance was wrong to be the familiar man she was used to greeting at the shores. Stopping in her tracks, she tilted her head.

Trudging her way to the stranger's side, she tugged on his coat, "Welcome ta Åland, Mister." The man smiled gently, "Ah... Hello... my name's Tino." Helmi held out her hands, revealing a marsh Marigold she had picked on the way to the shore, "Here." "O-Oh! Thank you!" Helmi smiled, "My name's Helmi. It's nice ta meet ya." Tino smiled, "Ah... that's a fitting name..." Helmi tilted her head, "Why do ya say that?" "Oh... Helmi means 'pearl' in my language..." "Oh...! Uh, um, thanks! But, um, it's just... Helmi is just short for Vilhelmina..." Tino smiled, "Would you mind showing me around a bit? I've never been here before." 

Helmi smiled and nodded, reaching up and grabbing Tino's hand, "Yeah! C'mon! There's lotsa pretty things to see!" "Thank you."

* * *

** 1035, Faroe islands: The Islands become part of the Kingdom of Norway **

Alvilda huffed, following Lukas rather annoyed. She liked her place better. She didn't really want to move in with him, but she didn't really have a choice. It was probably for the best.

She was trying to block out the small flying creatures that inhabited the house with her new caretaker, not to mention the large green creature that followed him around. She was trying to be upset, and they weren't helping.


	2. Nordic Family (Re)Union

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kalmar Union=Nordic family (Re)Union!  
> I took the 'Running away with Su-San' strips as when the Kalmar Union breaks up due to the Swedish rebellion, and 'The Violent Su-san of Northern Europe Takes a Swing' strips as the expansion of Swedish territories... could be wrong.  
> There's a lot of Helmi in this chapter... Apparently Åland was more active than Greenland and the Faroe Islands during this time... I assume Alvilda and Erinak are probably reading/Training an Auk Army when things are calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blåsippor: Swedish name for the hepatica flower  
> Niviarsiaq: Greenlandic name for dwarf fireweed  
> Harsyra: Swedish name for Wood Sorel  
> Sólja: Faroese name for wild butter cups  
> Frúa: 'Lady' Faroese  
> Aluu: Greenlandic 'hello'

Erinak laughed, "I remember the first time we met, too. That was a trip." Helmi frowned, "Ya two were worse than the Germans..." Alvilda smirked, "Says the girl who looked like she was going to burst into tears-no wonder you're such good friends with Ravias." "Ya two kept yellin'! I thought I did something wrong! 'n Ravais 'n I roomed together in Russia, we had to be friends!" Erinak grinned, "Oh, so you're just 'friends'?" Pointing, Helmi glared (Which she had gotten from her 'Pappa Sweden'), "I will force feed ya Surströmming." Erinak paled, "N-No thank you... I retract my former statement..." Helmi grinned and crossed her arms.

Alvilda frowned, "Even Arthur is afraid of Surströmming, Helmi, that's not something to smile about..." Helmi groaned, "Why do you two hate it so much?!" "I am convinced you and Onkle Ber are trying to take over the world with the putrid stuff. Everyone would just run away and vomit." Erinak nodded in agreement and Helmi put her hands on her hips, "That's just because ya two were stupid enough ta eat it straight out 'a the can! Ya just don't do that! Ya mix in some crème fraîche, chives, 'n I like putting tomatoes in there too. But Pappa prefers it on tunnbröd with potatoes 'n unions, which I guess is okay, too..." 

Erinak smiled and picked up one of the heart-shaped cookies, "At least you make good cookies!" Alvilda nodded, "We'll have to thank Setä Tino for that one." "Yeah." 

Helmi frowned, "Then... it all kinda went down fast for us, huh?" Erinak nodded, "After the Union fell apart... it went down..." "Things didn't start going right for me until the 1940's... and then it went right back down." Helmi smiled awkwardly, "At least you didn't go through the..." she shivered, "... _Wraths_... I don't think there was a lesser or a greater... both were terrible..." Alvilda frowned, "No, Lukas and Mathias tried to give Emil and me to Arthur to pay off a loan." Erinak frowned, "I got abandoned by my own settlers." Helmi nodded, "All mine fled to Sweden..."

* * *

** 1397-1523: Kalmar Union (A union between Nordic Kingdoms) **

Mathias grinned, "Alright, Alvilda, Erinak, this is Åland, err, Helmi! Helmi, this is the Faroe Islands and Greenland-AKA Alvilda and Erinak." Helmi peeked out from behind Berwald's legs, "Hi..." Erinak lit up, "OOOOOh!! You're really pale, too! Am I the only one with darker skin? Or are you just sick? If you're sick, you should really be in bed-" Alvilda hit the back of her adoptive sibling's head, "Shuddup, you Eskimo!" "I'm Inuk! Use the right words, Sheep-Lover! And I'm just curious! Everyone here is just so pale it makes me think you're all ghosts or half dead or something! I'm worried about your health!" "Hmph! That's not a reason to be rude!" "I'm not trying to be rude!" "Just be quiet, you eskimo!" "Inuk! I'm I-N-U-K! Get it riiiiiiiiiiiight!" 

Lukas sighed, "Get along, you two..." "ESKIMO!" "SHEEP-LOVER!" "PUFFIN FREAK!" "THEY'RE AUKS!" "YOU'RE AN AUK!" "THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" 

* * *

After a particularly long lecture from Lukas about getting along, the youngest of the Nordics were sitting quietly (and glaring at each other). Alvilda was reading a book while Erinak and Helmi drew pictures. Helmi smiled as she drew the petals of a blue flower, showing it to Erinak, "It's a  _Blåsippor_!" "...I thought it was a flower..." "It is! It's a type!" "Oh..." Erinak smiled, "I like the  _Niviarsiaq_ that grow back home... they're little purple-y flowers..." Helmi smiled, "I like the  _Harsyra_  home... 'n the  _Blåsippor_." Alvilda looked blankly at her book for a moment, "The sheep ate everything they could... but there are still the little yellow  _Sólja_... wild ones... they're pretty in the spring... there aren't many tall plants... and no trees... but the little _Sólja_ are always there..." "Oh, Åland is covered in pines... the islands... the skerries... everything." Erinak frowned, "Greenland has tiny trees... it's too cold for a bunch of tall trees..." "I like ta climb the pines ta watch the ships come in. The sea's so pretty in the spring." "Yeah." "Yeah." 

* * *

"GIVE THAT BACK, YOU ESKIMO!" "I'M INUK! GET IT RIGHT, YOU SHEEP-LOVER!" "I DON'T CARE! JUST GIVE IT BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" Alvilda tried to reach her book, only for Erinak to push her away, "I just wanna see what it's about!" "Give it back! I gotta know what happens!" Helmi sighed and pushed the two apart, causing both young territories to stumble at the force. "OW! Jeez, Helmi! Hold back!" "Give Alvi her book back, ya two 'r giving me a headache!" "fine..." 

* * *

**1523: Swedish War of Liberation (Sweden and Finland leave the Kalmar union)**

Helmi walked next to Berwald, tightly holding his hand, as they walked away from Mathias's house. It was late at night, and the walk was silent. Tino was a few steps behind the pair, a little intimidated by the large man.

When the trio laid out their blankets, Helmi fell asleep as soon as she was lying down. Asleep, she rolled into Tino for warmth, trying to stave off the frigid air.

This, Tino didn't mind. What he did mind was Berwald practically  _glaring_ at him.

"Th-the moon is pretty, isn't it?" "Yeah?" The Finn started shaking, "I-It's a little cold, isn't it?" "Is it?" _He's s_ _cary! He's really scary! I can't live with him!_ "I-I might be mistaken." 

Figuring it would be bad if his companion caught a cold, the Swede scooted over and put his blanket (and arm, much to Tino's horror) over the other two. 

* * *

**1524: Norway and Denmark offers the Faroe Islands and Iceland to England as collateral for a loan (England declines)**

Alvilda looked at Emil, "Well, I'm glad that didn't go over. Arthur's a terrible cook..." "Yeah." Alvilda stood up, dusting her dress off, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go yell at Luke and Matt for offering me up like some sort of sacrifice." "..." 

* * *

**1579, Faroe Islands: Magnus Heinason sent to clear out the Scottish Pirates that were terrorizing the islands**

"So it's a problem?" Alvilda huffed, looking up at Mathias, "Yeah, big problem. To Sum it up: Pirates. Tórshavn. Stealing, looting, _loosing_ _profits_! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO FIX IT?!?!" "Uh... I'll... send somebody... just... relax, kay?" "'Relax'?!? We're losing a lot of money! And it hasn't just been Klerck! English adventurers terrorize my islands, you do nothing. Stuck in a monopoly, you do nothing! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RELAX WHEN YOUR RECORD OF ACTUALLY DOING HELPFUL THINGS IS TERRIBLE?!" "...Uh, um, Norge?" Lukas sighed, "I'll make sure he does something." "You better!"

True to their word, Lukas and Mathias sent a native Faroese to deal with the problem-Magnus Heinason. He fortified Tórshavn, got rid of the rift raft, became a national Faroese hero, and gained Alvilda's respect, friendship, and loyalty, which was not an easy feat.

* * *

Alvilda leaned on the side of the ship, smiling as she looked at the islands, "Thank you, Magnus." "Ah, 'Twas my pleasure,  _F_ _rúa_ Alvilda! I cannot let my homeland be terrorized and still be called a gentleman, could I?" Alvilda smiled back at him, "So it had nothing to do with your ships, then?" "Ah, perhaps!" Both let out a small laugh as they looked at the islands.

_If only I were human. If only I had a chance. If only time could stop..._

Looking over her shoulder at the Privateer, and frowned for a second,  _If only..._

Looking back at the islands, the smile came back. Magnus was 34, surely, she thought, they would have time for more adventures.

* * *

**January 16, 1589: Magnus Heinason Accused of illegal boarding of an English ship**

Alvilda looked up at Lukas, a scowl gracing her features, "What?! You're charging him for something he did while he worked for  _Holland_?! Is that legal?! Plus you know Valkendorf hates Magnus! You can't let  _him_ try him! He'll be executed even if he is innocent! It won't be fair!" "I can't do anything about it, Alvilda." Glaring at the older man, Alvilda turned around and stomped out of the room, enraged.

Magnus was found guilty and two days later, beheaded.

The part that hurt the most was the very next year, he was acquitted. 

_If only it had happened sooner..._

 

 

> Even travelled in Norway and on the Faroe Islands, this Magnus Heinesen's death, his fellow countrymen were deeply in sorrow. The Faroese people say that he was a man who protected the Islands, his father came here and settled here, his brother and sister was born here, and they lived and died here, and thereafter his descendants and friends also live here.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> — Lucas Debes,  _Færoæ & Færoa Reserata_

* * *

**1600, Greenland: Norse Settlements disappear**

Erinak looked out from what used to be a dock, just staring at the sea, "Where... where did everybody go?" He looked around, "Aluu? ALUUUUUUUUUUUU?!" After getting no answer, Erinak's heart sunk. "...Lukas? Emil? Please... come out... This... this isn't funny..." He shook his head, holding back his tears, "Please, I'm scared! Come back!" He let out a small sob, "Please... come back..."

* * *

**17th century: Sweden Expands territory (AKA: Berwald gets partial custody of the Baltics)**

Helmi stood next to Berwald, giggling at Tino's exchange with Eduard, not catching most of the words exchanged, but the glomp from Tino was enough to make her find it humorous.

After getting bored of listening to the older nations talk, Raivis and Helmi drifted together. "Eh... Pappa's scaring everyone again..." "H-He is rather intimidating..." "Really?" "Y-Yeah..." "I guess he is a little... I think it's mainly the height..." "And the glare..." "He glares?" "It looks like it..." "Oh, wow, I never really noticed that..." "...Are you blind?" "Eh!?" "A-Ah! S-sorry!" "Oh, well, I've been with him so long I guess I'm just used to it." "Oh..."

* * *

** 1714-21, Åland Islands: The Greater Wrath Devastates the Islands (Finland and Åland ~~occupied~~  BECOME ONE WITH MOTHER RUSSIA) **

Helmi stood out on the docks of the western side of the islands, tears in her eyes as she watched her inhabitants flee to Sweden. There were a few remaining behind, despite the coming Russians, but never had she felt so empty. Tino and Berwald were off fighting else where, so she was left by herself to defend the islands.

Legs shaking as she headed to the other side of the island to great the Russians, she got her small sword ready. She couldn't fire the guns, the objects just seeming foreign and odd in her hands, but the sword-the sword she had been a good acquaintance of hers since the vikings sailed the seas. Standing on the eastern side of her largest-and most important-Island, Fasta Åland, waiting. 

Standing there at the edge of beach, the similarities hit her. Here she was-ready to fight, on a sunny afternoon. But long ago had she traded in her apron dress and viking-esque outfit for an embroidered red Bunad, and she no longer let her hair hang loose, it was tied up with a red ribbon into a oppbindning like Tino had taught her.

When they came, she glared them down, "Leave. Just. Leave. I won't let you have my Islands!" One of the soldiers laughed, only to find himself coughing up blood seconds later, a metal blade embedded in his stomach. 

Helmi knew the island's importance. If the Russians had the islands, they would have a quick route to Sweden. That they had ravaged one of her parents-she would not let them terrorize the other. " _Get off my Islands_!" With a swift movement, the silver sword and surrounding area glimmered with specks of crimson. Turning to the  downed him quickly while he was in shock. But the shock didn't last long enough. Helmi tried her best to pose  _some_ sort of threat, somehow delay them at least long enough that the boats carrying her citizens were out of sight, but her small size lead to a quick defeat.

And that is when the Great Wrath set in.

Finland would be occupied by Russia for the next seven years. 20,000 people killed. 10,000 taken to Russia as slaves, few of which would ever return. Thousands fled to Sweden. Plundering was wide-spread. Churches were looted, cities were burned to the ground. A scorched earth zone several hundred kilometers wide was burned to hinder Swedish counteroffensives, leaving Finland to fend for itself.

And to make it worse, the plague struck at the same time, killing 1/3 of Helsinki's inhabitants alone, other villages suffering similar losses.

This was the century that she wish she could erase. 

* * *

**1721, Greenland: Danish settlement established near modern-day Nuuk**

Erinak looked across the fjords, face lit up with relief and joy. Running towards the sight, he smiled as he saw Mathias near the ship. The man grinned, waving to the boy before getting engulfed in a hug. "Whoa! Hey there!" "Welcome back!" In that moment, Erinak never wanted to let go. He thought he had been an important part of the Norwegian empire, only for his settlers to ultimately abandon him. He didn't want that to happen again. He didn't want to feel that lonely. Before they settled, he was content with the Inuit camps. When they first settled, he felt crowded. But when they left... and he was left just with the native inhabitants again... he felt empty. He never wanted to feel that way again.

Over the next 150 years, Greenland would be explored and mapped. 

Insuring that the young territory wouldn't be lonely for a long time.

* * *

**1721-23, the Åland Islands: The inhabitants return to Åland**  

Helmi hauled herself up onto one of the top branches of one of the pines that crowded the skerry. Looking over the Sea of Åland, she smiled as she saw the ferries heading towards the islands. Letting out a small content sigh, she rested herself on the branch, content to spend the rest of the day watching the ships. Her people were returning. No doubt many people would pass through the island on their way back to Finland. This mere thought made her overjoyed, a land without her people was no land.

* * *

**1742-4** **3, the Åland Islands: Hats War and the Lesser Wrath Reaches the Ålands**

Hiding behind a pine with her sword, Helmi looked at the Russian troops. This time she was smart enough not to face them head on, instead planning quick raids and sabotage. Getting a tight grip on her sword, she prepared to quickly destroy some of the supplies for the Russian forces. It would have little effect, but she could at least annoy them. I mean, when you can't find that ONE shirt or sock, you get pretty annoyed, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since nothing really exciting (Or that I can think of a way to right) happens until the 1800's, and then it gets a little busy, I'm cutting this chapter of here!  
> ~A.C.L.


	3. New News!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alvilda deals with Danish Politics, Helmi deals with Russians, Malaria, and Treaties, while Erinak deals with... newspapers. Well, everyone deals with newspapers. Erinak apparently did nothing too exciting, so more Auk-Army Training for his Auks.  
> Malaria was endemic in Åland for at least 150 years, with severe outbreaks recorded in the 18th century, and in 1853 and 1862

Erinak looked thoughtfully at the ground, "Hey, Helmi, how many times did you get invaded again?" Helmi groaned, "Don't ask. It's embarrassin'! I have a whole chapter 'a my history titled 'The Invasion of Åland'!" Alvilda smiled awkwardly, "You're in an important spot..." "But still! They don't have ta invade me all the time!"

* * *

**1809, Åland Islands: Russia invades the Islands (Again) Sweden cedes the islands and Finland to Russia with the Peace of Fredrikshamn**

"Agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain?! Can't ya make up your mind if ya want my islands or not?!" Helmi whined, annoyed with the constant custody battles between Ivan and Berwald. She would like it if Ivan stopped invading, finding her time with her Pappa more pleasant and less stressful.

* * *

**1816, Faroe Islands: Denmark gets rid of Local Parliament on the Islands**

 "...So, I've had my own council for  _900 years_ , and now you're making me  _get rid of it_?" "...Yes." The Norwegian nodded, sure that Alvilda had gotten the point. Crossing her arms, Alvilda looked up at the older nation, "I see..." After a moment of silence, Alvilda burst out, "WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?! YOU JUST DECIDED WITHOUT ASKING ME?!?!" "..." "I-D-I-O-T!" 

* * *

**C. 1835, Åland Islands: Construction of the Fortress of Bomarsund starts**

"OH! So I'm getting a fort! With Cannons 'n stuff like that! Oh! Cool!" After letting it sink in for a second, Helmi frowned, "Eh... I'm pretty sure Pappa said something 'bout wanting the islands ta be unfortified before I left... but... I don't think it ever really became a rule... Plus cannons... _CANNONS_."

England, France, and Sweden did NOT approve of the fortifications. 

* * *

**1846, Faroe Islands: Spelling System for the Faroese Language Created**

Alvilda smiled, looking at the new writing in front of her. After such a long time- _too_ long of a time-Her native tongue was finally put into writing. This, this paper in her hands and the ink on it, for some reason, those two simple things made her feel much more  _individual_ than she ever had. She wasn't  _Danish_ , she was  _Faroese_. Smiling and putting the paper out on her desk, she started to ink a letter. 

* * *

**1849: Greenland and The Faroe Islands get two representatives in the Danish** ** Parliament **

Erinak grinned at the letter, letting out a small laugh. "Ah, Tiliaq, look at this!" He showed the letter to the small Auk beside him, "We get two seats in the parliament! Ah, isn't this great, Tiliaq?! We're finally getting recognized!" 

* * *

Alvilda huffed, reading the paper, "It's about damn time we get something like that, Mathias!" "What are you yelling about now, Alvi?" "Oh, nothing that shouldn't have happened sooner! Don't stress over it, Enok!"

* * *

**1852, Faroe Islands: Local Parliament re-established as an advisory role**

* * *

**1854, Åland Islands: Bomarsund Fortress is destroyed by Anglo-French forces before it can be finished**

"They didn't have ta blow the whole thing up..."

* * *

**1853, Åland Islands: Malaria Epidemic**

Helmi pulled the blanket up over her head and groaned. _Someone, please sink my land into the ocean already... Show some mercy..._

Ravias pulled the blanket up a bit and peaked under, "I-Is th-there anything I-I can do...?" Helmi whimpered, "Mass murder mosquitoes for me..." "...H-How about Tea?" Helmi nodded, "Yeah, that helps..." Ravias smiled slightly and nodded, heading off to go ask Toris to help him make tea.

Not being a human, Helmi didn't usually get sick or ill. But with a good amount of her population sick, it was starting to affect her, too. 

* * *

Tino frowned and put a cold cloth on Helmi's forehead. In the past few hours, the fever part of the malaria had shown up. Helmi mumbled something in Swedish, and Tino frowned, not understanding, "What was that?" "Isä... I-I'm sorry... Wh-when I'm older... I'll help ya 'n Pappa fight... I promise." "Don't worry about that... you don't have to fight if you don't want to..."

* * *

**1856: Treaty of Paris (Åland becomes demilitarized)**

Helmi frowned as she sat near the side of the room with the Baltic Trio and Tino in the conference room. Francis, Arthur, Roderich, Elizabeta, Gilbert, Lovino, and Sadık yelled back and forth at each other, bickering, as Feliciano and Ivan sat off to the sides smiling.

Still having a lingering headache from the malaria epidemics, and the loud yelling was only making it worse, Helmi was becoming fed up rather quickly. After covering her ears failed to ease the headache, she decided making the other people shut up was the next best route. Huffing, the young Ålander stood up on her chair and yelled at the bickering countries, "HEY! SHUT UP!" All the men turned to see a terrified Tino, the Baltics frozen in place, and a very angry young girl. Helmi huffed, "Would ya just stop fighting and decided if I'm gonna be demilitarized or not?!? And if I'm not, ya two-" She pointed at Francis and Arthur, "Better not destroy my new fort before I finish it!" Arthur frowned, "It was a war!" France nodded, "Oui!" "It was still mean! It was gonna be my first real fort with cannons and everything and ya blew it up before I gotta finish it!"

Ravias pulled Helmi back down into her chair, "H-Helmi... Shhhhh...!" Helmi crossed her arms, "I just wanted a cool fort! And cannons! I wanted cool cannons! I want explosions! BOOM! BANG! CANNONS! Bomarsund was going to be so cool..."

Francis sweatdropped and raised his hand, "I vote the petite fille is demilitarized." Arthur nodded, "For once we can agree on something, Frog face."

And so, Åland was demilitarized.

And She didn't get a fort.

Or cannons.

Much to many's relief.

* * *

**May 21, 1861, Nuuk, Greenland: First _Kalaallisut_ (Greenlandic) Language Newspaper is published**

Erinak proudly held up his newspaper, "Ah! Finally done!" "What did you end up calling it?" " _Atuagagdliutit_!" "Atuagagdliutit? 'Distributed reading materials'?" Erinak nodded, smiling gently at the newspaper, "Yeah, I want everyone to be able to read this... that's why it's in _Kalaallisut_ after all! So the people who can't read the Danish newspaper can still know what's going on!"

"Well, what's the first page about?" "The difference between Auks and Puffins!" "...You're still upset about that, huh?" "Yes!"

* * *

**December 8,** **1877, Faroe Islands: The first Newspaper, _Dimmalætting_ , is published in the Faroe Islands**  

Alvilda had her hair tied back, apron, face, and arms covered in ink. Smiling, she held up the finished paper, "Finished!" A young man smiled, "Last thing to do is name it and print the title page..." Looking over the letter boards, Alvilda pushed some of them together and nodded, "How does that look, Jóannes?" " _Dimmalætting_... I like it." 

Alvilda smiled, nodding.  _Dimmalætting... the darkness is dwindling... Soon... it'll be the dawn... The dawn of these Islands... The dawn of the Faroese... and I'm it will be beautiful!_

* * *

**December 26, 1888, Faroe Islands: The Christmas Meeting of 1888**

Alvilda looked over the gathered assembly surprised. It was terrible weather out, she hadn't expected this many to come! Seeing a familiar face, she frowned, "Ah! Jóannes! You didn't-! You're drenched!" The young man laughed, "It was not too bad of a trip! Don't worry yourself!" Sighing and shaking her head, Alvilda decided it wasn't worth the fight, and went back to trying to get everyone in order for the meeting.

Glancing at the clock, she nodded to herself, and quickly motioned to Rasmus to get the meeting started. 

Once the meeting started, Alvilda couldn't stop smiling. Speeches were made and songs were sung, and towards the end, Jóannes shyly offered up a piece of parchment to Rasmus, "Ah, I-I don't think it's very good... but here it is." Rasmus smiled, nodding, before standing back up and reading from the page. 

Now the hour has come,  
when we must join hands  
and rally around  
our native tongue.  
Ours is the duty  
to safeguard this  
most precious cultural heritage,  
which is suffering such abasement  
in its own country  
that it doesn't stand  
to be saved without  
the will and effort  
of the whole nation.

It had taken a year over a decade, but this was it. This was the dawn of the Faroese. This was the morning that Alvilda had waited for. It had taken a long time for the sun to finally reach the horizon, butt it was worth the wait. It was dawn, a dawn which she hoped would never fade.

It was later that night when the islanders established a resolution to preserve their culture.

The meeting ended with the acceptance of a six-point resolution:

As soon as there were enough Faroese schoolbooks available, Faroese should be used as an educational language in schools.  
In history, the emphasis must be on Faroese national history.  
In religion, all Danish wrote learning should be abolished and the subject matter rendered in Faroese.  
Priests must be free to use Faroese in and outside the Church.  
Faroese should be used for all official ends and purposes.  
Finally, the resolution stressed the necessity of establishing a Faroese Folk High School.

Eleven years later, the Faroese Folk High School would be established in Klaksvík, ten years later, it moved to the capital of Tórshavn.

* * *

**1891, Åland Islands: First Local Newspaper is published in Åland**

Helmi smiled, reading the first page of the paper, "Ah! This is really good, Julius!" "Thank you. It's about time we had our own newspaper, Ja?" "Ja!" The young teen smiled at the paper's name, Ålandstidningen. _The Åland newspaper... a newspaper for Ålanders, by Ålanders._ Helmi smiled up at the older man, "Ah, it should be me thanking ya! This is what we need!" "I hope everyone else thinks the same." "They will! Trust me!"

* * *

**1906, Åland Islands: Russian garrison established in Åland**

Helmi raised an eyebrow, "I'm pretty sure putting an Garrison here is against the whole demilitarized thing, Mr. Ivan..." "Ah! Don't worry, da!" Helmi frowned, "But Arthur told me I wasn't allowed to have weapons. Or armies. Or anything like that. And I think the others will get angry. And Angry Lovino is a scary idea." "Listen to Mother Russia!" Helmi sighed, "fine..."

Looking up, Helmi raised an eyebrow, "So, why 'r they here?" "'To stop arms smuggling to Finland', Da!" Helmi looked at him skeptically, "Why were there quotation marks there?" Ivan's gloom cloud grew around him, " _ **Kolkolkolkolkol**_..." Taking a step back, Helmi nodded, "Alright... Imma... gonna... go do something... on the other side of the island..." _And far away from you_ , she mentally added.

* * *

 _ **Somewhere in Greenland...** _

"No, Tiliaq! That's your left!" Sighing, Erinak looked at the Auk,  _Maybe I should make an army of Arctic Foxes instead..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: The Åland Invasion!


	4. Who We Are...?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Invasion of Åland! Germans, Russians, Swedes, Finns! It's a party!  
> The World Wars, One and Two!  
> America gets custody over Greenland!  
> England Occupying the Faroes!  
> Tricky Åland Shipping!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Julius' refers to August Julius Sundblom and 'Carl' refers to Carl Björkman, both were important to the Åland movement.  
> Hell: A city in Norway  
> Ankka: Finnish for Duck  
> Swedish:  
> Kvack: How you quack in Swedish |Herr: Swedish 'Mr.' | Fröken: Swedish 'Miss'  
> Greenlandic/Kalaallisut:  
> Qimmiq: Canada Eskimo Dog | Assut: 'quickly!' 'Go on!' | Aap: 'Yes' | Aa: 'EHEM' '*Clears throat*' Gets attention

Erinak frowned, "You know, I don't think I've ever been invaded. Or occupied." Alvilda huffed, "As much as I hate to admit it, Arthur's occupation of my place was... beneficial." "I should've killed Alfred while he took care of me." "...You really don't like him, do you?" Erinak shrugged, "I would like him a lot better if he quit teaming up with Mattie to ruin the lifestyle I've lived for as long as I can remember, driving my people off their ancestral lands, crashing planes carrying **_FOUR_**  hydrogen bombs into my side, and then _start_ help me with those DAMN GREENPEACE DEMONS!" "...You still aren't over that, are you?" "I WILL NEVER GET OVER GREENPEACE! WHAT DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE THEIR TORTURE?!" Both girls sighed, Greenpeace was the one thing that Erinak hated with a fiery, undying passion that even the permanent ice caps of Greenland couldn't chill.

* * *

** February 1918: Invasion of Åland Starts (AKA: Ludwig, Berwald, and Tino visit) **

Helmi waited anxiously on the west beaches of the island, as she's found herself doing a lot lately, watching the ships come closer to the shores. She didn't mind the ocean spray on her dress, or even how the sea winds were tangling her hair, blowing her pigtails and ribbons haphazardly. Oh, how Tino would lecture her later. But right now, she hardly noticed, or cared.

Smiling down at the small mallard duck at her side, Helmi let out cheerful laugh, "Swedish ships." "Kvack!" The blonde huffed, "I know all the flags 'round 'ere look the same, but trust me! That's the Swedish Flag!" "Kvack~?" "What do ya know, you're a duck!" "Kvack!" Helmi stomped her foot, "Kvack ta ya too!"

By the time the ships had made it to shore, Helmi was still arguing with the duck.

"I told ya so!"

Berwald sweatdropped, his adoptive daughter was arguing with a duck.

"Kvack!" Helmi huffed, "Shut up, Ankka!"

And to make it worse, she named it 'duck'.

Helmi turned and smiled at the tall Swede, "Welcome back! What can I do for ya? Isä is on the mainland, still, so it's just me right now!" "...Heard 'ere was fighting." Helmi frowned, "Well, some Finnish whites got inna couple fights with some Russians..." letting out a small laugh, she smiled again, "But I managed ta break it up! I can take care 'a myself, y'know!"

* * *

** February 13, 1918: Sweden starts to Negotiate with the Russians **

Helmi crouched down and whispered to Ankka, "Ya think I should tell Pappa they're scared of him?" "Kvack..." "Yeah, it is kinda funny, but I feel kinda bad..." "Kvack!" "Yeah, negotiations must be hard when you're as intimidating as him..." "Kvack..."

* * *

** February 17, 1918: Sweden's negotiations with Russian troops fails thanks to Finnish Reds coming to the island **

Helmi sweatdropped, "Oh, wow... this is a lotta people... I didn't know we could fit this many here..." Ankka flapped around, "Kvack!" "Yeah, it is a little snug..."

* * *

** February 19, 1918: Swedish Coastal Defense Ships arrived in Åland to pressure the Russians to leave **

* * *

**February 20, 1918: Russians agree to leave, 300 Russians and Finnish Reds leave Åland, leaving 1200 unarmed Russian Soldiers**  
**Sweden also tricks the Finnish Whites into leaving with a fake order from their leader** (That was mean, Berwald... but points for pulling it off)

* * *

** March 2, 1918: Sweden had control of Åland **

Frowning, Helmi sat on one of the small skerries that were abundant in Åland, just looking at the sea. "Hey, Ankka?" " _Kvack_?" "Why does no one think I can take care of myself? I mean... I get I'm stuck looking like a kid... but... I'm older than some of the younger countries! I mean, I remember 6000 years ago when people first landed 'ere! I was li'le and itssa bit hazy... but I remember making ceramics... 'n weaving baskets..." She skipped a rock across the water, "I know it doesn't sound important... but... I was happy... things were simple... no one was trying ta invade... or tossing me around... or even threatenin' ta invade... I helped outta bunch... y'know, with little stuff... picking berries... cooking... making things... but now... now..."

Helmi let out something between a sob and an angry yell, "Now everyone just keeps passin' me 'round 'n 'round, bickerin' over who has ta take care 'a me! Shufflin' me 'round! 'N they never ask me who I wanna stay with! They don't even care what my people want!! How am I 'sposed ta take care a' 'em if no one will listen ta me or them?!" Sniffling, Helmi buried her face in her knees, "I wish I was human... or a duck... or even a puffin... somethin' that just... just didn't hafta worry 'bout these things! How... how does everyone else manage? Not bein' listened ta... ta look like a kid for 6000 years... I mean... I look like a 13 year old! I can't stand it, Ankka! I don't need Pappa or Isä or Mr. Ivan or anyone ta take care a' me! I just wanna show 'em that, but no one 'll give me the chance! I just wanna take care a' my people... 'n I spend lotsa time here... so... I know what they need... but... everyone who's ever claimed here... they come 'n go... so... they don't know... if they listened ta me... there wouldn't be a problem! But... but... everyone treats me like I'm a little kid! I just wanna help out!"

Letting out a little sob, the blonde chucked a rock into the sea, sniffling as it sank. " _Kvack_!" "Yeah... sorry... but... I don't know what ta do!" " _Kvack_!" Helmi sniffled, wiping her tears away, "Wanna trade places?" Ankka flapped her wings, " _Kvaaaaaaack_ ~!" Helmi let out a small laugh, "Yeah... I wouldn't wanna either..." " _Kvaaack_..."

Scratching the duck's head, Helmi smiled slightly, "Alright, time ta start workin'... you'll help, right?" " _Kvack_." 

* * *

** March 5, 1918: German Convoy arrives on Åland **

Hiding behind a barrel, Helmi watched the ship arrived. Whispering to Ankka, she glanced back at the figures on board, "It smells too much like beer to be Finnish... German?" " _Kvack_..." "No! You ask first, attack later!" " _Kvvvv_ ~ _aaaack_ ~!!" "No! You can't just bite random country's ankles!" Peaking over the barrel, Helmi nodded, "Yeah, that's Mr. Ludwig... Maybe he's scared that Pappa will join the Allies..." " _Kvack_!" "Yeah, maybe... No! Don't-!" Helmi grabbed the mallard and snuck off the dock and back into the city.

Grabbing her Browning pistol (A gift from her Onkle Mathias, who had also taught her how to use it. After getting used to it, her Finnish Genes were apparent), she met the German on the road between the docks and the town, the loyal mallard by her side.

Ludwig sighed, "Go home, zis has noding to do vid you." Huffing, Helmi glared at him, "Hey! These 'r my islands! Ya better not have any ideas about conquering them, or I'll send my angry attack duck at ya!" "Angry... attack... duck...?" Ludwig repeated the words slowly, looking at Helmi bewildered. Smiling, Helmi looked at Ankka and pointed at the German, "Ankka! I choose ya!" The duck looked at the German and let out an angry quack before viciously biting at his legs while Helmi watched, overjoyed at the fact that it was actually working at the moment.

* * *

** March 6, 1918: Germany and Sweden make a deal concerning the Ålands (And Helmi isn't happy) **

"So it iz a deal?" "Ja." Berwald and Ludwig shook hands, and Helmi huffed.

Apparently, she needed more attack ducks next time there was an invasion force.

Sweden and Germany now shared the islands.

The Swedes had a hold on the capital Mariehamn and the villages of Jomala, Geta and Finström. Both were allowed to use the port in Eckerö. A post of the Finnish military governor was also established.

And Åland didn't have much say in the matters.

Ludwig headed for the door, glaring at Ankka (Who hissed at him in return), leaving Berwald and Helmi alone.

"M'd-" Helmi glared at him, "No! Nej! Don't talk to me! These are my islands! My people! My responsibilities! So don't make deals on _their_ -on _my_ part!" Slamming the door behind her, Helmi headed towards her solitary skerry.

Soaking her socks and dress as she ran over the small distance of water, Helmi finally reached the small uninhabited island. Leaning against the trunk of a pine, she curled up into a ball, thinking things out, what she would do next.

_Maybe I should start making a duck army..._

* * *

**March 1918: Åland Islanders make appeals to join Sweden to Finland, Germany, and Sweden**

Helmi nodded, "So ya 'n Herr Carl will talk ta others?" "Ja." "Then I'll handle the Political matters." "Fröken, would it not be better for Carl and me to handle that?" Helmi smiled knowingly, "Have faith in me, Julius! I am no child!" "Best luck to you, then." "Good luck."

* * *

Helmi knelt down next to Ankka, who was currently kvacking obnoxiously at her giving her a not-too-peppy-pep-talk. Despite her confidence that she could make it as her own country (Eventually), with the wars raging as they did, it would probably be smart to stay part of a larger nation... for now at least. And after getting a lot of opinions of local islanders, she wrote up a little presentation.

Nodding and grabbing her hand-drawn signs, she faced the three nations she had managed to drag in to listen to her. She shuffled her feet awkwardly, "Uh, thanks for coming..." "Your duck made me." Helmi smiled, "Yeah, isn't Ankka the best?" Ludwig scowled before sighing, "Just... get dis over vid."

Helmi nodded, "Um... yeah... well... um... I was talking ta some people 'ere recently, 'n taking their opinions inta consideration... I made a presentation!"

She held up the first sign, with the title and the Åland flag (Which was currently just a blue rectangle with a yellow stripe through the middle) decorating the front. Tino frowned, "Oh..." "Kvvvvvv~aaaaaaaaack!" "Yeah... Why Åland should be part of Sweden... by me."

She held up the next sign, which had the Åland, Swedish, and Finnish flags and their languages under it. "Åland historically speaks Swedish... 'n we can't correctly be called Swedish-speaking Finns since our dialect is closer ta the Uppländska dialect a' Sweden than Finland Swedish... 94% a' people here speak Swedish as a first language... while about 5% speak Finnish as their first language... 'n the other 1% speaks other assorted languages... Finland's official language is Finnish, 'n all political matters 'r conducted in Finnish, which leaves Åland outta the loop 'n uninformed."

Ludwig shrugged, "Zen learn Finnish." Helmi huffed, "The islands have spoken mainly Swedish for forever-Well, after Uralic, but that was, like, in the B.C.E's. 'N suddenly asking 20,000 people to switch their language would be a bit rude 'n hard ta execute... But Sweden's official language is Swedish, 'n we could more easily communicate 'n participate in political affairs if we were a Swedish territory, without having ta bother asking Finland ta print things in two languages for a small portion a' their people..."

Helmi held up her third sign, which had the Swedish and Åland flag, "Most Ålanders 'r ethnically Swedish... we think. Itssa touchy subject. There 'r lotsa arguments. But culturally, we 'ave more in common with Sweden than Finland. Meaning we can more easily relate 'n connect with Swedes than Finns..."

Holding up the fourth sign, Helmi glanced at it before flipping it right side up, blushing and letting out an embarrassed laugh, "Err... sorry.... Yeah..." This sign had large Finnish flag and a small Åland flag, "in recent years... ta protect against Russia-fication, Finland has been pushing Finnish culture 'n Nationalism... this has made things really awkward for Ålanders, since we aren't Finnish, it makes the islanders feel alienated since our culture has been a little smushed ta the side by Finnish cultural propaganda spread by the government... if we were Swedish, since our cultures 'r really similar, we wouldn't have this problem."

Ankka offered her caretaker the last sign and Helmi smiled and held it up, making the three countries noticeably paler. The last sign was covered by a large Åland flag, and bold writing. "'N since ya never really asked me what the people here want, or what I, the living personification a' the islands ya guys keep deciding things for, think is best for Åland, I think it's about time ya take my opinion 'n words inta consideration! Thanks for listening! Please take this inta consideration next time ya wanna make a decision for all a' us! I'd be happy ta give opinions on what would be helpful!"

Ludwig sighed before getting up and leaving, causing Helmi to look at Ankka in confusion. Crouching down, she whispered to the duck, "We did everything Al suggested, right?" " _Kvack_!" "Maybe next time we should ask Mr. Matthew..." " _Kvack_..." Berwald ruffled the small girl's hair before leaving with a small good bye.

Tino knelt down next to her, "Helmi..." Helmi frowned, rapid fire words coming out of her mouth, "I'mreallysorry, butIjustwannadowhat'sbestforeveryone! Istillloveyaloads-n-loads, sopleasedon'thateme!" Tino smiled gently and patted Helmi's head, "Your signs were really well drawn, but you need to work on your spelling." "English spells everything weird! The only thing weirder is French!" Letting out a small laugh, Tino fixed Helmi's hair. "You're going to need a haircut soon." "Please don't let Onkel Matt do it again! Everything ended up weird lengths!" "I won't. Now come on, it's almost time for dinner."

* * *

**May 26, 1918: The last of the Swedes leave Åland**

Helmi smiled sadly, "Safe travels, Pappa. Get back safe." Berwald nodded, ruffling Helmi's hair. Tino let out a small laugh and smiled, "Save travels, Sve." "Tack."

* * *

** September 1918: The Germans leave Åland **

Helmi held Ankka up in front of the German, "Leave! Now!" "Ja, ja, I'm going." Ankka quacked evilly, eyeing the German, " _Kv_ ~ _a_ ~ _ck_ ~!" "Uh-hu! Good riddance! Get your potatoes off my islands!"

* * *

** November 1918: Åland Islanders make appeals to join Sweden to Great Britain, France, and the United States **

Alfred held his hand up, "Dudette! That was an awesome presentation!" Helmi lit up, "Really?!?" "Yeah, dude! I'm totally convinced! ...what am I convinced of again?" Helmi sighed, she loved hanging out with the American-he would let her do fun stuff that the Nordics usually didn't let her do after all-but sometimes he was just a little ditzy. "That I should join Sweden!" America paused before laughing, "Oh, right! ...but aren't you Tino's kid?" "Uh, yeah, Isä raised me... but so did Pappa! Didn't ya listen?!" "I tried-but there was this awesome hamburger-" " _KVACK_!?!?!" "Uh, dudette, your duck is kinda freaky." Helmi huffed, "Ankka is not freaky! She's going to help me rule the world one day!" Alfred laughed and patted the small Ålander's head, "You're a cute kid!" "I'm not a kid! I'm a perfectly self-sustainable archipelago of islands that has been inhabited for over 6000 years!" "Hahaha! Yeah! You're adorable!" " _Kvack_ ~?" Helmi sighed, "No, Ankka. You can't do that-even if it's called for."

* * *

**1920: Finland Grants Åland autonomy (And Helmi thinks that's amazing)**

"Eh?! Autonomy?! Like, 'self-law' in Greek Autonomy?!" Tino nodded, "Yes." "Oh, wow, that's amazing!! Thanks! That's-wow-I-! It's like I'm almost a real nation! Wait until I tell Ravias! Oh! 'N Alvi 'n Eri! Oh! Mei is going to freak!"

* * *

Berwald awkwardly patted the Finn's back as he freaked out, "Ah, what if I gave her too much responsibility?! What if she can't handle it?! What if Ivan attacks her again?! She's demilitarized! She won't be able to defend herself until someone else gets there! It's in a really strategic spot, what if another war breaks out?! Gahhh...!!! What was I thinking?!?"

"'s alright..." Berwald awkwardly managed to spit it out.

Little did they know, during the next world war, they wouldn't have to worry about Helmi at all.

Like she told them, she could take care of herself. And basically play both sides of the conflict.

* * *

Helmi frowned, "Where were you two during WW1?" Erinak seemed to think, "Somewhere near Ilulissat, hunting narwhals and training a new sled team." "Fighting with Matt on my linguistic rights." "...Did you two even care that there was a war going on?" Erinak shrugged, "Not really, my dogs kept chasing snow hares. I didn't  _have time_ to care." "I didn't care since it didn't reach me, I was trying to get Faroese used in schools and churches. Took me 25 years, but I got it done." "..." Erinak groaned, "The second one was a different story entirely..." "Same."

* * *

**April 12, 1940, Faroe Islands: Operation Valentine** **(But Arthur forgot the chocolate!)**

Alvilda stood in front of Arthur, arms crossed, snarling, "I'm only letting you stay here because Denmark is occupied and we can't defend ourselves, that clear?" "Yes." "Good. Now go... make tea or something, I suppose. Just don't burn down my house or any one else's houses. And for the sake of my brother Hell, if you make any scones, I'm evicting you!" "MY COOKING ISN'T THAT BAD!" "EVEN FINNS THINK YOUR FOOD IS TERRIBLE, YOU WANKER!" "THAT IS MY INSULT!" "GO TO HELL!" "I WOULD, BUT IT'S OCCUPIED BY GERMANS!" "SMART ASS!" 

Huffing, Alvilda started walking towards Tórshavn. Looking back at the Brit, she sighed, "Well, are you going to find your own accommodations or shall I show you to my place? Personally I would prefer the later, I don't need you contaminating my people more than necessary. Besides, we need to work on assembling an emergency meeting of the Løgting, not to mention rules, restrictions, means, and response!"

Believe it or not, in Alvilda's books, this was a 'warm welcome'. Well, the warmest welcome she could give to a man who showed up with two destroyers in her Capital's port.

* * *

**April 13, 1940, Greenland: 'We're screwed, aren't we?'**

Reading the letter his Auk just handed him, Erinak broke into a cold sweat. "Oh no..." Tiliaq let out a squawk, causing Erinak to look at him, "Germany occupied Denmark." Erinak sunk to the ground, "Now Matt and Arthur might try invade, and Luke might try too... and all we really have are musk ox, polar bears, auks, untrained civilians, and a bunch of dog sled teams..." Tiliaq tilted his head and Erinak groaned, "Well Fuck... We're screwed, aren't we?" Tiliaq nodded, "Yep!" "Thanks, Tiliaq. You're the best support Auk I've ever had." "Yep!"

Hearing the phone ring, Erinak reached up and grabbed the handset, "You have reached Greenland, we are currently in a state of self(nation)-crippling worry and unable to properly think. Please leave a-Oh, it's just you. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah. I got it. Al-America? Yeah." "Yep!" "Not now, Tiliaq. I know. I will. Should I tell them to send out patrols? Okay. Got it. Talk to you later."

Hanging up, Erinak sighed, "That was the boss. Kauffmann is our rep to America. We're probably going to have to rely on them since the Royal Navy is probably going to cut off any supply ships from Europe. We're going to declare ourselves independent and go from there. Sound good?" "Yep!" "Sometimes I'm glad that's the only word you can say." "Yep!" 

Standing up, Erinak pulled on his army green coat, pulling up the fur-lined hood and zipping it up tightly before heading out to handle the situation.

* * *

**May 1940, Greenland: Greenland asks America for help**

Taking a deep breath and swallowing what little pride he had left, Erinak looked up at Alfred, "We could really use some help and it would be totally _awesome_ and a totally _heroic_ move if you would help us out a little with protecting our Cryolite mine and helping us survive." Alfred grinned, "Sure, dude! No prob! I'll talk to my boss about it!" Erinak let out a sigh of relief,  _I can't believe it, Helmi was right. That totally worked. I suddenly regret all the other advice she gave but I never followed..._

* * *

**May 1940, Faroe Islands: The British Royal Navy was Replaced by the Lovat Scouts (A Scottish Regimen)**

Allistor laughed, "TAKE THAT, GERMAN WALLOPER!" Alvilda scowled, "Don't shoot down planes over my islands! They could crash into something!" "Ah, shut yer giggie! I'm doing my job!" "BUT WHAT IF IT HITS MY PEOPLE, MORON?!" "CALM YER TITS, ALVI!" "HOW FUCKING DARE YOU! I AM A LADY DON'T FUCKING TELL ME SHIT LIKE THAT!" "LADY MY ARSE!" "I WILL DISEMBOWEL YOU ALIVE!" "I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YA TRY!"

...Alvilda does not mix well with the Kirklands. Yelling matches were common during the occupation, even though she was grateful for it. 

* * *

**1941, Greenland: American Politics are Tricky, But Greenland Makes it Work (AKA: Greenland makes the most BADASS UNIT EVER)**

Alfred smiled, "Alright, dude! I got protective custody over you! But, like, I can't have any of my guys protect your mine 'cos of diplomatic stuff, so I found fifteen guys who would do it, discharged them, and now you can hire them, and I'll give you some guns and weapons and stuff so you can do that, and I'll send some ships to watch your coast! Good?" Erinak's looked at the man blankly, before realizing this is really the only option, "Yeah... good." "Alright!"

* * *

Erinak looked at the pile of weapons in front of him, sighing. Looking at Tiliaq, he frowned, "Great, we've got eight machine guns, fifty rifles, and thousands of rounds of ammunition... and only fifteen Americans and myself who know how to use them." "Yep!" Sinking into his chair, he groaned, "Why can't I be the personification of something else? Like a nice, peaceful, tropical island?" "Yep!" Hearing scratching on the door, he opened it to see his lead dog sitting there, just staring at him. Smiling, he crouched down and stroked the black and white spotted Qimmiq, "hey, Aaja. I'm sorry, but I'm a little busy. We can't go run right now. I have to figure out how to keep everything safe. We need to form patrols and start to train people and get thing organized.... and then we need to make sure no one's coming to invade us..." 

Slowly, realization seemed to dawn on him and he nuzzled his nose into the lead dog's fur, "Aaja, I would be lost without you! In more ways than one!" Grinning, he stood up, " _Assut_! I'll come get the team ready soon, _aap_?" Barking, Aaja ran off towards the sled's shed. Pulling his hood up, Erinak ran towards the town.

* * *

Letting out a sigh of relief, and glad that people actually showed up, Erinak shouted, " _Aa_! Listen up!" The chatting stopped, and Erinak nodded, "Alright! Thanks for coming and welcome to the Greenland Sledge Patrol!" 

The North-East Greenland Sledge Patrol-Known today as the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, was in charge of patrolling much of the Coast of Greenland, looking for and reporting German Weather Stations. 

It was a fifteen-man strong, 90-dog strong, patrol force made up of native Inuits, Danes, and Norwegian volunteers. They suffered on casualty during the war, Corporal Eli Knudsen, on March 26th 1943. He was killed by German forces after they attacked the patrol's base at Eskimonaes.

* * *

**1942, Faroe Islands: Lovat Scouts replaced by Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)**

* * *

**Åland plays both sides (AKA Helmi pwns the world)**

Helmi smiled, putting the box she was carrying down and throwing her arms up, "Alright! Here ya go, Mr. Ludwig!" "Ja, ja, Danke." Helmi grinned, "Heh!" "AH! Ciao! Did you bring Pasta~?" "I don't know, I find it best not ta ask what's in the boxes 'n just get 'em where they're 'sposed ta be so they're someone else's problem!" "Ah! I hope there's pasta, Germany~!" 

* * *

Helmi grinned, knowing that her plan was going to work. 

Delivering to both Allies and Axis powers meant that neither side would attack her because they would be hindering themselves in the process. As long as she kept an ambiguous shipping schedule, her ships would be safe too. 

Looking at Ankka, she smiled, "We're ingenious!" " _Kvack_ ~!" Helmi laughed, "Yep! 'N if anyone attacks, I can just put my target practice with Isä ta use! It turns out I really am Finnish, huh?" " _Kvack_!" Smiling gently, Helmi looked up at the sky, "Maybe we can make a delivery ta Onkle Mattie soon, or maybe Onkle Lukas! It'd be nice ta see 'em! Maybe we could go ta Alfred's 'n stop at Alvi's or Eri's on the way! That would be nice too!"

* * *

"...I don't remember ordering a duck, but I suppose Francis could make  _something_ with it..." Huffing, Helmi dropped the box on the brit's toes. "BLOODY HELL!" "ANKKA IS NOT FOOD! SHE IS MY PARTNER!"

* * *

**May 5, 1945: Denmark Liberated**

Alfred grinned, looking at Erinak, "Hey! Erinak!" "Hmm?" "Arthur liberated Denmark!" "...It's not occupied anymore?" "Nope! The awesome Allies chased the Germans out!" Erinak stood up, "How soon can you hand my custody back over to Matt?" "..." "No offense, but I prefer him. Aaja got sick when you fed her a hamburger. He knows better. I don't need my lead dog getting sick!" "No problem, dude!" Letting out a sigh of relief, Erinak smiled, "Thank you. I don't think I would've been able to take care of myself." "No problem! That's the hero's job! Ahahaha!" 

* * *

Reading the message, Alvilda broke out grinning and ran down stairs, "Allistor! Have you heard?! Denmark's liberated!" She let out a happy laugh and threw her arms around the Scotsman, shocking him. 

* * *

**September 2, 1945: ALLIES VICTORY, WORLD WAR TWO OVER!**

* * *

**September, 1945, Faroe Islands: British forces leave**

Alvilda sighed, "Well, seems things will calm down again." "Yeah." Looking away from Arthur and Allistor, Alvilda huffed, "Thanks. You've really helped out here... even though your men ended up marrying almost 200 of residents, thank you." "...No problem?" "Now get your terrible burnt scones and cigar smoke off my islands! While you're at it, take your men with you! The population here is way out of balance while you're here!" 

* * *

Greenland suffered 3 casualties over the course of the war. 

The Faroe Islands suffered 210 deaths, all at sea due to bombs, German Submarines, and floating mines.

Finland lost between 85,000 to 95,000 people between the Winter's War and WW2. 

Sweden lost 2,100 lives between Merchant Ships being sunk by German and Soviet submarines, encounters with mines, and those who volunteered to help with the Winter's War in Finland.

* * *

(A/N: here are some pictures I found that I thought were rather amazing from the British Occupation of the Faroes:

My summery of the picture: "Is that a helmet or a turtle?" *Trying not to laugh* *Poses for the camera*

LOOK HOW CUTE THIS ONE IS. The occupation of the Faroes was WELL RECIEVED by the Islanders, Alvilda is just... Alvilda. And has a temper. And I personally don't think anyone else is particularly welcoming when two war ships show up uninvited?)


	5. Dark of Winter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some stuff goes down!  
> Greenland goes through hell and back!  
> Home-Rule!  
> FLAG DESIGNING!  
> ERINAK FINALLY DOES A LOT OF STUFF IN ONE CHAPTER!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I was wrong in the First chapter! >.< Utoqqatserpunga may be more accurate for 'sorry'? I don't know, information is scarce for Greenlandic...

Erinak sighed, "Sometimes I feel like a perminant aircraft carrier..." Alvilda patted his back, "That happens when you're in a strategic spot." Helmi smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, or you're demilitarized. I don't know which one's worse... but, on the bright side, my residents 'r exempt from conscription 'n I'm politically neutral! I just... don't have any real means a' protecting myself..." Helmi's smile faltered, that last part was terrifying to her. If someone _did_ break the agreement and attack her, she was a sitting duck. Alvilda frowned, "You do realize if anyone attacked you, both your dads would probably murder them, right? No one is willing to risk the fury of  _both_ the  _Lion of Northern Europe_ and  _the Best Sniper to Ever Live_." Erinak shrugged, "I can think of a few countries who are crazy enough to try..." 

* * *

**1953: The Danish authorities expel Inuit hunters from their ancestral lands to expand US airbase at Thule**

Erinak looked at Mathias infuriated, "What?! FOR-!!" Groaning, he ran his fingers through his hair, making his already perpetually disheveled hair even messier, "Mathias, that group has been there for  _centuries_ , you can't just make them move! It's like evicting you from Copenhagen! They know the patterns there, they know how to hunt there, moving them to another place means they would have to change everything! There's no supermarket there, they can't just  _buy_ food! You can't do this!"

"We need to expand the airbase. It's not like we're moving them to the other side of Greenland!" Erinak glared at the older nation, "I don't care if you're only asking them to move five kilometers or five thousand! It's their home! I would sooner melt my own ice caps than make three villages move!" 

In the end, his people ended up relocated. 

But, in 2003, his arguments were found valid, and Mathias had to pay The Thule tribe 500,000 kroner and the individual members who had been exposed to the transfer 15,000 or 25,000 kroner each. 

But that didn't erase the damage. The money didn't make him feel better. It felt like they were trying to pay their way to his forgiveness.

* * *

**June 5, 1953, Greenland: Greenland promoted from Colony to County**

Erinak frowned, looking at the letter. He knew he should feel happy, he was an integral part of Denmark now... but... he had an idea of what was to come, and the idea was mortifying. 

Tears welled in his eyes and he choked on a sob, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I... I don't know what to do..." Realizing he was speaking to himself in Danish, he broke down in tears, sobbing, "Utoqqatserpunga... Utoqqatserpunga..." Going back into his native language, he sobbed, "I am... so... sorry..."

If he could, he would've cried for years. 

The Danish policies toward Greenland consisted of a strategy of cultural assimilation, or de-Greenlandification. The Danish government promoted the exclusive use of the Danish language in official matters, and required Greenlanders to go to Denmark for their post-secondary education. Many Greenlandic children grew up in boarding schools in southern Denmark, and a number lost their cultural ties to Greenland.

Along with the children go the future, and Erinak could feel himself fading from existence.

If not for a few stubborn individuals who pushed back against Denmark, he was sure he was going to fade into the depths of horrid history. 

* * *

Feeling well enough for the first time in a long time to go dog sledding, Erinak crouched down and rubbed Aaja's ears, "Ah, this will be a beautiful  _ulloq_ , _Naami_?" The dog whined and Erinak laughed, "I know it's noon, but it feels like a dawn for me. _Assut_! Time to harness!" Aaja barked and rushed to the sled shed, leaving Erinak chuckling at her antics.

But this dawn was soon brought to an end.

* * *

**1954, Åland Islands: Åland receives its own flag**

****

Helmi huffed, holding up a very Sweden-esque flag. To be exact, it was  _exactly_ like Sweden's flag except for the red stripes running through the middle of the yellow cross. Helmi had been irked that Tino made her old flag illegal, so she ended up mad enough to just basically use her Pappa's flag defaced with red from the Finnish coat of arms. 

Tino let out an exasperated sigh, knowing if he didn't approve of this one, she would probably just suggest a blank flag next. No parental favorites in this family. (Tino suspected it was the fact that Berwald practically was glued to the small girl when she was still very young). 

"Alright, you can use this one..." Helmi smiled and held it up, "FINALLY!" 

* * *

**April 1, 1948, Faroe Islands: The Home Rule Act is passed**

Alvilda nodded, looking at her list for the Løgting, now that she had a little more power over herself-she had some changes she wanted to implement. 

First being making Faroese an official language and making Danish the second language, this was a compromise in her mind, but Danish was necessary for keeping up communication with the rest of the kingdom. 

Second on her list was making her flag official. 

And she had a few changes to the current laws she would like to be adapted now, but that was up to her people. Most of the changes she wanted to make to rules were the phrasing, anyway.  

* * *

**January 21, 1968, Greenland: Thule accident**

Erinak looked at the ceiling blankly, mind sinking into depths he dare not admit exist. Thoughts of nuclear death and radiation sickness and his ecosystem being destroyed, thoughts of his people burning and dying, images of his beloved ice fields melted and scorched, the northern lights hidden from view by a mushroom cloud. The dawn he thought he would see seemed like a fantastical dream of a child. All he could see ahead was darkness, a never ending black winter with no hope of spring.

Clutching his side, he sobbed. The uranium would stick in his environment for billions of years. How would this effect everyone? 

He was in his old room at Mathias's recovering. One of Alfred's planes had crashed, killing one man and accidentally detonating four hydrogen bombs west of Pituffik (He refused to call it Thule), Alfred and Mathias were desperately trying to clean the mess up, but the damage was already done in Erinak's opinion. 

There was a quiet knock on his bedroom door, but he ignored it. Then it came again. And again. Before an agitated yell broke the silence, "GOD DAMMIT, ERI! I KNOW YOU'RE AWAKE, YOU ESKIMO!" Getting no angry response, Alvilda was instantly alerted to the _wrongness_ of the moment. She opened the door, and Erinak didn't even bother to look. Crossing her arms, she sat down on the bed, "How you feeling?" "Does it matter?" Alvilda swatted at some unseen entity, shooing it away, "I'm about ready to exercise you, all these damn things keep floating around!" "Must be a bad Tuurngaq. That would explain my luck." "I don't care what it's called, it's damn annoying!" Huffing, Alvilda swatted again, "Out!" 

After a moment, she sighed, "How's your side?" "It hurts." "I bet. Four bombs can't feel nice." 

Erinak mumbled something and Alvilda sighed, "I don't speak Greenlandic." "The great peril of our existence lies in the fact that our diet consists entirely of souls." "...That's deep." "It's something Anaana told me and Aklaq once..." "Ananananan-what?" "Anaana... Mother... she told me that when I was little. We survive on killing and destroying. That's the great irony. You can only create something by destroying something else. And sometimes, what we create is of less value than what we lost." Looking out the window, Erinak saw the northern lights faintly appearing in the evening sky, "Those are supposed to be souls. How terrible is that? So many souls have been lost that you can see them all the way from here..." 

Alvilda groaned, just fed up with this mood already, "You're depressing, shut up already! I get you got four bombs to your side but cheer the fuck up already! You're going to drive me insane!" "Why? With Ivan and Alfred going at each other like this, the world's probably going to destroy itself anyway." "...You're more depressing the the perpetual darkness of your Eskimo winters!" Erinak mumbled something and Alvilda huffed, "What?" "It's Inuit. Don't call them Eskimos. It's rude." Alvilda smirked slightly and stood up, "I'm going to go get some fish and chips, you want something?" "Suaasat?" "Yeah, no clue what that is. You're getting Gule ærter." Erinak sighed and as she walked out.

* * *

**May 1, 1979, Greenland: Home Rule Act of 1979**

Erinak grinned and laughed lightly, which he immediately regretted, his side flaring up in pain as a reminder. He sent a small scowl at it before smiling again. This home rule meant he could control his land better, and maybe make things easier for everyone. He got limited autonomy with his own legislature taking control of some of the internal policies, which meant he could actually make a real difference now.

* * *

**June 21, 1985, Greenland: Greenland gets his own flag**

Erinak smiled, tacking up his flag under the rest of the other Nordic's flags.

Helmi frowned, "You totally ruined the motif." "Helmi!" "What? It's true... everyone else has crosses." "I was being original!" "And Francis calls Arthur the black sheet of Europe..." "Alvilda!" "I'm not even  _in_ Europe!" "Technically, you're still part of Denmark... so, yeah, you're part of Europe." Erinak frowned, "I'm practically connected to Canada." "Please don't start fighting again-" "JUST SHUT UP AND ACCEPT YOUR PART OF EUROPE, YOU ESKIMO!" "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, SHEEP-LOVER! THAT IS OFFENSIVE, WE'RE INUITS!" 

* * *

**1985, Greenland: Greenland leaves the European Community**

* * *

**1990, Faroe Islands: The fishing industry collapses, bank declares bankruptcy, triggering worst economic depression in Faroese history**

Erinak patted Alvilda's back, "Believe me, I know the feeling..." "Stupid over fishing... we never had this problem before..."

* * *

**1995: Sweden, Finland, and Åland join the EU**

Laura wrapped Helmi in a tight bear hug, "AH! Finally another girl!" "A-ah! Laura! You're squishing me again!" Laura just chuckled and pinched Helmi's cheek, "Nwww~ I miss when Louis was this little!" "Big Sis..." 

Helmi let out a small giggle, she always had enjoyed spending time with the Belgian (The few female nations seemed to stick together a lot), and Louis was nice... but Lars was rather intimidating. But over all, she liked spending time with the BeNeLux siblings. 

Over the two girl's heads, Lars and Berwald were glaring at each other, with Louis and Tino quietly apologizing to each other.

* * *

**July 29, 2005, Faroe Islands: Denmark grants the Faroes farther Autonomy**

Helmi lifted Alvilda up and spun her around, "Congratulations!" "PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW, VILHELMINA!" Giggling, Helmi sat her friend down, patting her head, "Ah! I'm so happy for you!" "Yeah, yeah, now stop treating me like a kid!"

* * *

**June 21, 2009, Greenland: Denmark grants Greenland farther Autonomy**

"Congrats, Eri." "Thanks, Alvi. Took long enough, a?" "Yeah." Helmi brought both into a hug, "Congratulations! Gah! You're both finally autonomous!" "Helmi... squishing... let go..." "AH! Sorry Eri!" Helmi let go and smiled awkwardly, "I forget my own strength sometimes..." 

 


	6. The Nordic Household

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to get back to business!  
> World meetings!  
> Micro-Nation Babysitting!  
> NORDIC PRANK WARS!  
> IT'S ALWAYS THE NICE ONES!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danish:  
> Siriuspatruljen: Nickname for the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol  
> Swedish:  
> Önningebykolonin: Önningeby artists colony in Åland | smörgåsen: Sandwich | knäckebröd: Crisp Bread | Min Lillebror: My Little Brother | skärgårdslimpa: 'Islander's/Archipelago bread' (Referring to Åland) | Var är du: Where are you  
> Finnish:  
> Senkin typerys: You Fool | Setä: Uncle  
> Norwegian:  
> Storebror: Big Brother

Alvilda swatted at the air and sighed, "Fine, fine, I got it..." Erinak let out a little laugh, "Jeez, Alvi, people'll think you're nuts!" "Tch! Come on, the meeting's going to start soon." Erinak shrugged, "Eh, there's no rush... Feliciano is probably running late, as long as we get there before him, we're good." Helmi huffed, "Being late is rude! C'mon, Eri! Let's get goin'!" Groaning, Eri was unwillingly pulled along by his arm. 

The three now appeared around sixteen years old, and they had all grown considerably since they had all first met. 

Alvilda and Helmi were both roughly around 165 cm, with Erinak only a few centimeters taller.

Erinak was wearing his army green  _Siriuspatruljen_  coat with a fur-lined hood, black pants, and combat boots. His brown hair was chin-length and rather disheveled still, his dark hazel eyes hidden mostly behind his bangs.

Alvilda donned a military-style dark blue [coat](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/eb/95/72/eb95724415e5d94ea55cf0bd17657799.jpg), white shirt, dark gray pants, and black boots. Her honey blonde hair was pulled out of her face, tied up into a tight bun. 

Helmi's clothing choices, due to her demilitarized status, didn't bear any kind of resemblance to the military-esque outfits that most countries chose to don at the meetings. She instead wore a [sailor dress](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/be/e1/09/bee1094f7796e962fca37b872808ed03--sailor-fashion-lolita-fashion.jpg) and sandals, her hair tied in a low ponytail. 

* * *

Looking at the meeting room before them, the three silently sighed. The Turkish countries were at each other's throats (Except for Kazakhstan-she was discussing Tulips with the Netherlands), Heracles and Sadık were fighting, so were Francis and Arthur, Ivan was scaring the Baltics (And Natalia wasn't helping by glaring at them from behind her brother), the Asian family was bickering amongst themselves, and most of the Romance-Language family members were doing the same.

Helmi headed towards her seat, "Talk to you guys afterwards!" Erinak nodded, "Yeah, later." 

Smiling, Helmi sat down between Tino and Raivis, instantly starting up a conversation with the latter after a quick greeting. 

"Oh, have ya finished reading  _Lāčplēsis_ yet, Raivis?" "Almost... Have you?" "Oh, I'm a few pages away from the end myself. I'm thinking next we can read  _The Summer Book_... I haven't gotten a chance ta read it yet, but it's 'sposed ta be good." 

This was a common occurrence between the two, coordinating reading material. By the end of the night, there was sure to be a two hour discussion about the Latvian national epic. 

Alvilda was stuck sitting between Emil and Lukas, much to her displeasure. "Storebror." "No." "Storebror." "Not going to say." "Storebror." "OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE, STOP IT ALREADY YOU TWO!" Lukas looked at Alvilda, "Storebror." "There is no way that I'm calling you that, either." 

On the other side of Emil, Erinak chuckled at their antics before smiling at Matthew, "Nice to see you again, Matt." "Y-You too..." 

* * *

Erinak laughed, "I thought Tamar was going to jump over the table and punch Ivan!" Alvilda smirked, "I would've cheered her on." Helmi smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, Georgia 'n Russia have always been on pretty bad terms, huh?" Erinak sighed, "And then Samir and Zhirayr were still yelling at each other when we left... they'll probably be going all night!" Alvilda shrugged, "Well, the Armenia-Azerbaijan relationships are about the same as the Koreas... terrible." "Yeah, they're still having a custody battle over Ara, right?" "Yep." Helmi frowned, "He can't catch a break... I need ta catch up with him too..."

* * *

All the countries who looked old enough had already gone out drinking, leaving the younger-looking nations and micronations to watch out for themselves. 

"IT'S ART!" "MINE IS BETTER!" "I'M GOING TO CONQUER BOTH OF YOU ONE DAY, DESUYO!" "WOULD YALL SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR ONCE?!?!" "Why are you guys all so weeeeeeeeird~?" "It's rude to refer to others like that, my junior!" "Ah~ You want to go out-a on a date?" 

Helmi giggled, "Naw~ Little kids 'r so cuuuuuuuuute~!" Emil covered his ears and glared at Helmi, not finding anything about any of the micronations 'cute'. Erinak looked at them bewildered, "Were we all that weird when we were little?" Alvilda crossed her arms, "You're _still_ that weird, Eri... You think dogs are a mode of transportation." "Cars are useless in Greenland. Dog sleds are much more reliable!"

Raivis let out a small, awkward laugh. He would much rather be out drinking with the other nations, but he looked too young.

Eduard was sitting in the corner with his computer. 

Erika was reading a book rather quietly in a corner, unaffected by the ruckus around her. 

Leon was just sitting next to Emil quietly watching everything.

Michelle was laughing and talking with Gianna. 

Wendy looked up at Helmi, "Can you make them stop being so weird?!" Helmi smiled, "Just give me a sec, kay?" Helmi glanced around, thinking of the best way to go about this, quietly, she made her way over to Romeo and whispered, "Why's Gianna looking at ya so weird, Romeo?" "Eh?" The youngest Italy brother looked over at the Monacan girl, smiling, "You think I've got-a chance?" Helmi smiled, "Go for it! Just don't let her pull you inta a game a' blackjack, kay?" "Si~!" And within a few moments, the two were wandering off together and Michelle dragged Dwight into a conversation. 

Helmi smiled, _Two for one..._

Sitting back down next to Alvilda, Helmi hummed, "Hey, Petey!" Peter sat up straight, "Huh, what is it?" "Can you get my purse for me? It's in our room!" Peter lit up, nodding rapidly and dashing off, knowing that his elder sister's purse usually had some sort of candy in it. 

Jason started yelling and Helmi glared at him, " _Molossia_! How dare ya use that language 'round young ladies!  _Alfred would be ashamed of ya_!" She sighed, "I guess I'll just have ta tell him..." "E-Eh...!?!? NO!" Jason instantly quieted down. 

Wendy looked up at Helmi amazed. 

Looking at her younger brother and the other last remaining yelling micronation, she raised her voice a bit, "Hey! Erland! Leopold!" Both young micronations stopped yelling and Helmi smiled, "Hey, ya two really like art, ja?" Leopold nodded, "If it's not art, I don't like it!" "Have I ever told ya 'bout my Artist Colony?"

Leopold lit up, "Artist's...  _colony_?" "Ja! Artist's colony! Oh, it attracted people from all over Finland 'n Sweden! Vikky 'n I had a lotta fun there painting!" Erland frowned, "Vikky?" Helmi laughed, "Victor Westerholm, I just called him Vikky. Oh, sometimes Vikky would invite Johan-oh, Johan Axel Gustaf Acke, I guess is what ya would know him-'n then Johan's wife, Eva, 'n their son,  Fausto Padovini-he later won a gold medal for Sweden in the 1920 Olympics, but that's another story... back ta the point... us four would just set up in the morning 'n paint all day sometimes! Loads a' fun it was! I still make an effort ta go check out what's happenin' there! Loads a' new artists popping up all the time!" Both boys sat wide-eyed and silent as Helmi continued to talk about the artist's colony-all the landscapes, the people, the paintings, her museum. They just silently soaked it in as Wendy looked at Helmi amazed. 

Alvilda smirked and whispered to the young nation, "You look like you didn't think she could do it!" "I didn't..." "Don't do that, she'll just do it anyway!" 

Peter ran ran back to the lobby they had all gathered in, holding out Helmi's bag, "I found your purse!" Smiling, Helmi took it and pulled out a hand full of Dumle candies-a chocolate coated toffee candy-and handed them out to the young micronations before going back to her story telling.

Alvilda grinned, "Hey! You gotten to Kjell yet? I'm surprised you made such a good artist!" Helmi smiled, "Not yet!" "Well hurry up, he's my favorite." "Just 'cos he came to visit your place!" "Yeah, and?" Helmi laughed before turning back to Leopold and Erland, "Now where was I?" "Johanna Rönnberg!" "Ah, ja! Sweet Hanna! Now  _there_ was a lady!" She laughed, "Oh, she 'n Edvard made quite a pair! Shame they never married, their children would've been the best artists since Feli!" 

* * *

Helmi frowned, "The end was sad..." Raivis frowned, "Yeah..." "But at least Koknesis might get a happy ending?" Raivis seemed to think, "I think he made it back..." "Oh! Good! Otherwise it would've been like a _Hamlet_ repeat..." 

By the time all the time all the older nations came back, the lobby was empty of the Micronations. Jett panicked, "AH! Where'd they all go?!" Helmi looked over, "Oh, I got 'em all ta go ta bed." Alvilda looked up from her phone, "They were all asleep five minutes ago when I checked." Elizabeta leaned in towards Helmi, "How'd you get Leo to go to sleep?" "Oh, he fell asleep in the middle a' my story. After I got him quiet, he was noddin' off!" Rodrich looked confused, "How did you ever get him to be quiet?!?!? Wasn't he screaming about art?!" "Oh, Wendy asked me ta shut the boys up, so I started ta tell Leo 'n Erla about Önningebykolonin. Ya should bring him over ta visit it sometime! If Kjell is there I'm sure he'd love ta teach him a thing or two 'bout painting!" Alfred laughed, "Hey, Arthur! It sounds like she's a better parent than you!" "Oh shut up, you wanker!" 

* * *

**April 1st, Nordic Household**

Lukas tiredly pushed some Tupperware to the side as he searched the fridge. Grabbing the milk, he went back over to the counter and tried to pour it into his cereal... only for nothing to happen. Groaning and putting the milk back down, he looked at the calendar on the fridge and sighed. April first. After having to eat dry cereal, he decided to go back to his room to try and avoid the rest of the pranks, only to find the hall now littered with Legos. 

* * *

Helmi opened her bedroom door to see the hallway of legos, smiling,  _Oh, Matts has really stepped it up this year..._ Closing her door and going back to her closet, she pulled on a pair of slippers and grinned, planning out how she was going to go about her prank. She already had a decent idea, but she was considering asking for a hand from one of her fathers.

* * *

Grinning, Mathias headed into the entrance hall of the nordic's shared house. Emil had come out only moments before, cursing and yelling at him about the legos.

He let out a small laugh,  _Jeez, Icy can't take a joke!_  

There was a small cracking noise and Mathias felt something graze his left ear. Glancing behind him, he saw a blood red splotch on the wall. "Eh?!?" 

_Crack!_

Something grazed his right side close enough that his hair had shifted. "AH! TINO! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" Looking around for the Finnish sniper, and seeing none, the Dane started to head back toward the kitchen,

_Crack!_

only to feel something hit his leg. Letting out a cry, he grabbed his leg and curled up. Waiting for the killing blow, he closed his eyes.

_Pop!_

Suddenly, something hit his forehead and he screamed, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Reaching up, he felt something that definitely  _wasn't_ a paintball, or a bullet, or his hair stuck to his forehead, with a slight pop, he pulled it off his forehead, only to see a suction cupped nerf dart. "DAMMIT TINO!" 

* * *

The morning pranks were over with and everyone was getting ready for breakfast. Helmi hummed as she and Erinak put together breakfast. "Nej! Eri, ya don't use two slices a' bread on breakfast  _smörgåsen_!" "It's a freaking sandwich! Don't use fancy words for it! And Sandwiches need two slices of bread!" "It isn't bread, Eri! It's  _knäckebröd_!" "It's crisp bread and crisp bread is still bread!" Sighing, Helmi took the top piece of bread off the sandwich and started another open-faced sandwich. Groaning, Erinak gave up and got the yogurt out. 

Just then, Berwald sat down in his chair.

_Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!_

The whole place went silent, and Berwald froze in place. He had  _handmade_ _every piece_ of furniture in the house, and the chair hadn't made that noise since he built it. Shifting, it repeated the noise. Berwald got up and headed into the kitchen to get his toolbox. going to the cabnit under the sink, he opened it to see all the tools  _missing_. 

Half way to an angry break down, he calmly but the tool box back and headed back to the table, glaring along the way. Emil let out a small chuckle and Norway shared his younger brother's sly smirk.

Sitting back down, the horrendous noise repeated itself. 

 _Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak_ _!!!_

The Swede let out a quiet sigh, glaring at the the two brothers. Mathias laughed, "Nice one, Norge!" "Heh." 

Peter looked around confused, "What's going on?" Helmi looked over her shoulder, "Do you know what today is,  _Min Lillebror_?" "Uh... Friday?" Alvilda frowned, "It's a Thursday." Peter smiled, "Oh! Today's your anniversary, right?!" "Yes... but not the right answer." Helmi grinned as she set a plate of bread on the table, "Here's some  _skärgårdslimpa_ ta start off..." Erland frowned, "Can't you make any other kind of bread?" "Yes, but I don't like ta. 'Sides,  _skärgårdslimpa_ is great!" Alvilda rolled her eyes, "Just because it's named after your place doesn't mean it's amazing." "No, the taste does. 'N the taste is amazing. 'N today,  _Lillebror_ , is April Fools." "Jerk Arthur said that's a stupid holiday..." Mathias yelled, "STUPID?! It's the best! We all get to annoy each other without getting yelled at too much! We get to prank everyone!" Erinak smiled as he put the yogert and cereal down on the table, "And we've all probably had it planned out for months..." Helmi laughed, "Ja!" Tino smiled slightly, "Joo..." Emil nodded, "Já." Mathias yelled, "Yeah!" 

After setting drinks out at the table, the first of the daily wars over food began. 

That is, until a few minutes later when Tino's drink started to fizz. Confused, the Finn leaned forward a bit to look at it, surprised. And then... 

_Fwush!_

Foam volcano. Berwald looked mortified, but the rest of the table was at least chuckling. Erinak grinned and let out a small chortle.

Alvilda looked over at him, "Let me guess, that wasn't water?" "Nope... mentos in ice cubes and sprite... sorry not sorry, Setä Tino!" Tino stood up and headed off to go get a towel and Helmi smacked the Inuk over the head, " _Senkin typerys_! Meals 'r no places for pranks!" "Ow! Sorry! I got it!" 

Erland mumbled, "Wimp... She's not scary..." Helmi glared over at him, "Mumbling isn't polite, Erland!" The micronation sank back into his seat, "S-Sorry..." 

* * *

After breakfast, it was quiet for a while... until Emil tried to play MineCraft. Starting up his computer, he opened up the program only to find everything was in some strange language he couldn't make out.

" _LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_!" 

Helmi looked over at her rather smug little brother, "What'd you do?" "Change his computer to have everything in Urdu." Letting out a small laugh, Helmi ruffled Erland's hair, "Nice one, Erla." "Humph! Stop calling me that!" "When Emil calls Luke 'Storebror' I will."

* * *

Norway went up to his room to escape the madness that is Mathias. 

Pulling a post-it note off his door, he frowned, 

_The floor is Lava._

_Have fun_

Groaning, he opened his door and the room was scorchingly hot. 

Only Emil could turn the floor into actual lava.

* * *

Peter knocked on the door, and Alvilda looked down at him, "What, Pete?" "I don't know what to do for a prank..." "Well, I put dye in Denmark's hair gel. We've had mentos in ice cubes in soda, paintball sniping, creaky furniture, legos in the hall, Emil turned Luke's bedroom floor into real Lava  _again_ , there are probably some of Luke's magic traps set up everywhere, Erland changed the language settings on a couple computers, Berwald switched Tino's guns around so they were in the wrong spots, and I don't know what Helmi's planning, but she hardly does anything today anyway... but just do something that will annoy people. Like... put blow horns behind doors so they go off when doors open." Peter nodded, "Thanks!" And with that, he ran off.

"Welcome. If you annoy Matt I'll help you." 

Just then there was a shriek from the bathroom, "WHY IS MY HAIR LIME GREEN?!?!" Smirking, Alvilda grabbed her phone and snapped a picture as Mathias came out of the bathroom.

* * *

Helmi looked around worried, "Ankka?!?!? Var är du?!" 

Peter snickered, holding the duck tightly as he hid in his room. 

"ANKKA?! ANKKAAAAAAAAAA?!" Helmi ran down the hall and threw Emil's door open, " _EMIL_!" "What do you want?" "WHERE IS ANKKA?!" "What?" "Ankka! I know your stupid puffin has something ta do with it! He's always terrorizing her!" "Mr. Puffin didn't do anything!" "WELL THEN WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?!" "I don't know, I don't keep track of your duck." Huffing, she headed off down the hall, "ANKKA?!" 

Tino looked out of his room, "What's wrong?" Helmi started to frantically motion with her hands, "I can't find Ankka 'n I don't know where she couldda gone 'n Emil says it wasn't Mr. Puffin this time 'n I don't know where else she wouldda gone!" "Hmmm... have you checked with Erinak? She might've gone to see Tiliaq." "I'll check..." "Good luck, I'll help once I get my guns back in order... Sve thought it would be funny to switch them around..." "...wow."

Peter peaked out his door.

"ANKKA?!?" The mallard perked up, " _Kvack_ ~?" "Shhhh! Quiet!" Ankka looked around, " _Kva_ ~ _ck_ ~?!?" Helmi dashed down the hall and grinned, "Ah! Petey! Ya found her!" Helmi smiled and took her mallard, "Ah, thanks! I was really startin' ta worry 'bout ya, Ankka! Silly Duck, don't run off like that!" 

Peter frowned,  _This wasn't supposed to go like this..._

Helmi smirked and looked down at Peter, "Hey, mind lending me a hand?" "Sure!"

* * *

Erland's eyes lit up as he saw the dish in the middle of the table. Looking around to make sure it seemed safe, he walked up to the table and grabbed a hand full of the candies and popped them in his mouth.

Only to have a horrified look on his face a few seconds later, "Yuck!" 

He scowled,  _Who's the jerk that mixed M &Ms and Skittles?!?_

* * *

Erinak sighed, following Tiliaq to the door, only to hear a loud crack. Jumping up and grabbing his Auk protectively, Erinak looked around for where the sound had come from.

_Crack! Crack! Crack!_

A salvo of paint balls were fired right by him, and he dropped to the ground to lower his profile, "AH! Setä Tino!" 

Once the paint balls had stopped, he glanced around to make sure there was nothing else coming at him. Looking behind him, he saw a multi-colored smiley face mocking him on the wall. "Just adding insult to injury this year..." 

* * *

After getting stuck in one of Lukas's magic traps on the way to bed, Alvilda sighed as she opened her door, rubbing the back of her neck. She headed to crash on her bed, only to find it strangely absent. Looking around confused, she didn't spot it. 

"DAMMIT!" 

She plopped down on her back where her bed was supposed to be, only to see it  _upside down on the ceiling_. "HOW THE FUCK IS THAT EVEN FUCKING POSSIBLE?!?!"

* * *

The next morning was as every other morning in the Nordic household-Loud. Everyone at the breakfast table was laughing. 

Alvilda huffed, "And then I spent two hours figuring out how to get my bed off the ceiling! I ended up having to get Helmi to help!" Helmi giggled, "I've never seen ya so red in my life!" Mathias laughed, his hair still slightly tinted green, "Hey, next year can you at least use a color that looks good?" Alvilda shrugged, "That would take all the fun out of it." Erinak laughed, "I'm just glad the paint ball paint came off the wall..." 

Erland huffed, "Whoever mixed the candy was just mean!" Tino let out a small giggle, "I'm sorry..." Emil looked across the table at Helmi, "Did you even do anything this year?" Helmi hummed, "Hmm? Oh, not really." Peter let out a small laugh.

Alvilda looked up from her plate, "So who was the jackass who put my bed on the ceiling anyway?" Mathias held his hands up, "Don't look at me!" Lukas frowned, "I didn't do it." Mr. Puffin squawked, "It wasn't us, Tough Guy!" Alvilda scowled, "I'm a  _fucking lady_ , you  _asshat_! I'm no man!" Mathias held his hands in front of his chest, "Yeah, your boobs kinda give that away." That was followed by a salt shaker to the forehead. "Av!" Berwald shook his head, and so did Tino. 

Alvilda glared at Erinak. "Hey! All I did was the mentos and Soda!" 

Alvilda creased her brow, utterly confused. There was no way Erland or Peter managed to do it, and Helmi didn't do anything.

Mathias pointed across the table at Tino, "My leg still hurts, by the way." Tino frowned, "What?" "From that paintball you shot at me!" "I couldn't even find my paintball gun yesterday!"

Helmi smiled to herself, _I'd think after four years they'd clue in..._ _Maybe next year they'll figure it out..._

Peter held back a giggle as he and Helmi shared a knowing smile at each other.

Erinak went wide-eyed and yelled, "OH MY GOD, IS THE PLACE HAUNTED?!?!" Lukas looked up, "Yes, did you just now figure that out?" Alvilda rolled her eyes, "Of course it is, although I wish the pests would stop bothering me... but seriously, who stuck my bed to the ceiling?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names in case you didn't figure it out (Excluding official names):  
> Tamar: Georgia | Samir: Azerbaijan | Zhirayr: Armenia | Ara: Nagorno-Karabakh/Republic of Artsakh | Erika: Liechtenstein | Leon: Hong Kong | Michelle: Seychelles | Gianna: Monaco | Wendy: Wy | Romeo: Seborga | Dwight: Hutt River | Jason: Molossia | Erland: Ladonia | Leopold: Kugelmugel | Jett: Australia 
> 
> All the Artists Helmi mentioned were at Önningeby artists colony at one point or another


	7. Nordic Summer! Part one!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birthdays, Midsummer, anniversaries... Summer is a busy time!  
> I'll be splitting this up into two chapters for Ease!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rosenmunnar: Swedish Thumbprint cookies (Usually with Lingonberry jam in the center) | Muumi Kuviokeksit: Moomin-shaped biscuits | Muumi limu: Moomin-themed strawberry soda (Finns like Moomins. A lot.)  
> In '08 the Faroe Islands gave Iceland a loan of $52 million to help with the financial crisis.  
> Danish:  
> målbevidst: Purposeful | I dag er det Helmi fødselsdag: Today is Helmi's Birthday | Forbrydelsen: 'The Killing' A TV Series in which the Main Character (played by Sofie Gråbøl) wore a Faroese sweater.  
> Finnish:  
> Paljon onnea vaan: Happy Birthday to You | Moi Moi!: Bye bye!  
> Swedish:  
> Ja, må hon leva: Yes, may she live  
> Norwegian:  
> Hurra for deg som fyller ditt år: Hurrah for you who fill your year | Lillebror: Little Brother | Storebror: Big Brother | Lillesøster: Little Sister | Små brødre: Little Brothers | Storesøster: Big Sister  
> Icelandic:  
> Hún á afmæli í dag: It's Her birthday today | Lopapeysa: Icelandic Sweater  
> Faroese:  
> Til lukku við føðingardegnum: Good Wishes for A birthday | Tvøst og spik: Dish of Pilot whale meat, blubber, and potatoes  
> Greenlandic:  
> Inuununnu pilluarit: Happy Birthday | Anaana: Mother | Aningan: Mythological Figure (The moon, and a total creep) | Eqalussuaq: Greenland Shark | Arnarquagsag: Sea goddess | Skalugsuak: The First Greenland shark (Who works for Arnarquagsag I believe) | Mattak: Dish of frozen whale skin and blubber | Baabaj: Bye  
> (one 'Moi' is hello, two 'Moi's is goodbye... anyone see Finny different now?)

** ** **May 1, Nordic Household**

Helmi smiled as Erinak came out of his room, "Good Morning, Eri!" "Eh... My head's still buzzing from last night... remind me what's good about morning again?" "Well, I don't know about other mornings, but I made cookies last night 'n they're still warm..." "What kind of cookies?" "Rosenmunnar." "Good morning to you too!" "I had ta hide 'em from Petey 'n Erla, so grab one before they get out here." "...Why did you make cookies?" "It's May first! Y'know, ya kinda became a little independent today?" After thinking for a moment, Erinak laughed, "That's right. Thanks for remembering." "Well that kinda thing's important!" "And a good excuse for cookies." "It's not an excuse!"

* * *

**May 7, Nordic Household**

Helmi stretched and tried to go about making breakfast... until Alvilda saw this. Grabbing Helmi's arm, she pulled her friend out of the kitchen, "Ey! Alvi, do ya want breakfast or not?!" "It's your freaking birthday! Let someone else make breakfast for once!" "...But I like cooking." "Too freakin' bad!" 

* * *

Mathias ruffled Helmi's hair, "Ah! You're getting old!" "Not nearly as old as ya _._ " "But I'm still awesome!" "You're still a giant child..."

After a rather light, strangely English, breakfast and a lot of 'happy birthdays' in assorted languages, Helmi grabbed her go-to fuel for work time: Muumi Kuviokeksit and a cold bottle of Muumi limu. Soda and biscuits: The nectar and ambrosia of life.

Peter frowned, "She's going to work on her birthday...?" Erinak shrugged, "She always does. Nothing new." "...that's boring." Erinak pushed aside some strange Norwegian food before grabbing a bag of Cheezies out of the cupboard, "You know how she..." He motioned with his hands, running through possible ways to put it that wasn't negative. "...sukasimaarpoq." "I don't know what that means." Erinak smiled awkwardly, "Uh... målbevidst?"

Alvilda walked into the room, pulling Peter a bit to the side so she could grab a cup out of the cabinet. Erinak motioned to her, "sukasimaarpoq?" She frowned, "I am not your Greenlandic-" "Kalaallisut," Erinak corrected her. Rolling her eyes, she continued, "To-english translator when you're too stupid to remember." "...sukasimaarpoq?" Sighing, Alvilda filled up the glass with water, "Fine, fine. Just because Peter doesn't know Danish. Dictionary definition is something like 'makes an effort; sets about it with great energy and determination'. I guess determined could take the place." "Thank you."

Alvilda grabbed a roll of homeblest biscuits off a shelf before sighing, "Why did you even use the word in the first place?" "Helmi." Seeming to contemplate it for a second before nodding, "Yeah, accurate. She's just determined to do everything perfect, it's a little annoying." "Yeah, if she could have a few more problems with things it would make me feel way better about myself..." "Yeah, we're stuck with restrictions on fishing exports and barely able to legally do sustenance hunting..." Alvilda shrugged, "At least we're constitute countries... Wait... she was at one point, too..." "Yeah. But, you know, it would be nice to be keeping an entire nation on it's toes... I mean, when I say something off hand like 'If I were a country...' Mathias just carries on, and when she says something like that, Setä Tino looks like he's going to have a heart attack!" Alvilda sighed, "I remember when I was able to keep Luke on his toes..." "That hasn't been for at least a thousand years, and you had an even worse temper then." " _Tch_!"

* * *

Mathias smiled, "Alright! Now blow out the candles so we can eat cake!" Alvilda rolled her eyes and was going to choke the Dane with his tie, but Norway beat her to it. 

Peter frowned, "We have to sing the birthday song first!" Erinak nodded, "Yeah, that's kinda required." Alvilda sighed, "Let's get this over with..." 

Helmi's smile faltered, knowing what was coming. Then, everyone started up.

Tino smiled, "Paljon onnea vaan-"  
Berwald basically mumbled, and Erland was staring at the cake, "Ja, må hon leva-"  
Mathias was almost screaming, "I dag er det Helmi fødselsdag-"  
Lukas looked unamused, "Hurra for deg som fyller ditt år-"  
Emil had a faint smile, "Hún á afmæli í dag-"  
Alvilda smirked, "Til lukku við føðingardegnum-"   
Erinak looked like he was going to crack up, "Inuununnu pilluarit-"   
Peter lit up, "Happy birthday to you-" 

The Nordics all looked at each other. Mathias frowned, "Shit, we did it again..." Alvilda looked over, "This always happens, you know." Lukas sighed, "let's just go with Swedish..." Tino frowned, "What about Finnish?" Erinak sweat dropped, "Finnish... Finnish is just a little hard for me... Plus, her official language is Swedish..." 

Helmi let out a little laugh, "Either's fine, just agree on one!" 

Erland frowned, "The candles are melting! Come on!" 

"Ja, må hon leva, Ja, må hon leva,  
Ja, må hon leva uti hundrade år!  
Ja, visst ska hon leva, Ja, visst ska hon leva,  
Ja, visst ska hon leva uti hundrade år!" 

(Yes, May she live, Yes, May She Live,  
Yes, May she live for a hundred years!  
Yes, She will live, Yes, She will live,  
Yes, She will live for a hundred years!)

Helmi blew out the candles, which in total were twelve. Lukas was apparently lazy so he just put nine and three.

Peter frowned, "Wait, aren't you already a hundred years?" Tino frowned, "This is why we should've gone with Finnish..." "Well, I guess I'll just have ta live a hundred more years." "Oh! That makes sense!" 

Peter whispered, "What'd you wish for?" Helmi whispered back with a wink, "That's a secret!" "C'mon! You can tell me!" "No! Rules 'r rules! Can't tell!" 

This was the usual birthday at their place, just the ten of them and cake. They always seemed more special that way. 

The cake was cut and they all sat around, sharing embarrassing stories and laughing.

Mathias let out a laugh, "Yeah, I remember in the 1600's! This weird hairstyle was in. The front was all curled and long, and the rest of the hair was braided or in a bun or something. It looked so weird!" Alvilda frowned, "It was fashionable!" "It looked ridiculous!"

Helmi smiled, "You know what else looked ridiculous?" "Hm?" Her smile grew malevolent, " _Boy's dresses._ " With that, the male Nordics froze (Except for Erinak, he was too stubborn to ever wear anything but trousers). Emil looked up, "I feel directly threatened by that." Lukas frowned, "Those were miserable." Mathias let out an awkward laugh, "They were kinda drafty..."

Alvilda smirked at Emil, who was sitting next to her, "You looked so  _cute_ in those!" "I did not." "Of course you did,  _Lillebror_!" Emil glared at her, forever loathing the fact that she was older by a few decades at most, meaning he was the youngest of the European Nordic Countries since Erinak, the only one who was younger, had left the European community years ago.

Lukas nodded, "You did, Lillebror." "Stop calling me that!" "Storebror." "Not saying it." 

Erinak frowned, "Europeans are so weird..." Alvilda rolled her eyes, "Whatever, you Eskimo." "INUK, YOU SHEEP LOVER!" "Shut up!" 

Helmi let out a small laugh. 

A lot had happened, but they were still the same as always. 

* * *

**May 17th, Nordic Household: Lukas's birthday**

Emil frowned, "I don't care if it's your birthday, I'm not saying it." "Storebror." "No." "Storebror." "I'm not saying it, Lukas!" Alvilda rolled her eyes and shoved a cookie in Lukas's mouth, " _Shut up and eat the damn food_!" 

Lukas ate the cookie and looked at Alvilda, "Storebror." Alvilda snarled, " _In your dreams doesn't count_!" Mathias laughed, "Just give it up, Norge!" 

Lukas frowned, "You both used to call me that all the time." Alvilda huffed, "We were kids! I'm a constitute country now!" Emil nodded, "And I'm an independent country." Tino smiled, "It wouldn't hurt!" Helmi shrugged, "I still call 'em Pappa 'n Isä." "That's totally different! You don't start using your parent's first names, that's just... _weird_!" Erinak nodded in agreement, "If I ever called Anaana 'Aknánguaĸ', she would kill me. No regret. No hesitation." He motioned, "Just, boom, dead."

Peter shivered, "Your mom sounds scary..." "She once single-handedly killed, cleaned, preserved, and prepared a full grown hump back whale when my brother and I were kids in the something-hundred's-B.C.  _No one_ messed with Anaana. If someone told me that the she made Aningan get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness, I would believe her." Peter blinked, "I have no idea what that means, but I think you mean she's scary." "Yeah. Like Krampus and spiders and Ludwig all wrapped together and constantly on fire, but never burning."

Erland huffed, "Nothing can be  _that_ scary!" Erinak paled, "There's a saying among Inuit: 'We don't believe. We fear.' You Europeans believe too much and fear too little... fear is good, fear keeps you safe, fear makes you run fast from polar bears that want to kill you and Muskox that want to trample you. Fear of Anaana getting mad helped me survive. Therefore, I fear much but believe in little." Alvilda nodded and pointed, "I respect Eskimos for that. That is a very solid basis for a religion." "We're Inuits, and thank you." 

Lukas kept bothering Emil, "Storebror." "NO!" "Storebror." "I'm not going to say it!" Alvilda hit her head on the table, "I made you fish and chips, stop with the 'big brother'!" Helmi frowned, "Alvi, you're the only one who likes fish and chips." "HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT LIKE FISH AND CHIPS?!?!" Emil glanced over, "Just join England already." Alvilda scowled, "How rude of you, Emil! Do you want your sister dear to die of starvation and malnutrition?!?!?" "I would like my ' _sister_ _dear_ 'to not eat weird food." "Weird?! You know what's weird?!  _Fermented Greenland Shark_!" Both Emil and Erinak let out a small gasp of offense. Erinak threw his hands up, "That's it! I'm never going through that much effort to make a special meal again!" "I almost died!" Emil huffed, "It was perfectly fine, you're over reacting." 

Peter frowned and whispered to Helmi, "I thought they wouldn't fight today..." Helmi let out a small laugh and whispered back, "That's their way a' sayin' 'I love ya'. They're all just too stubborn ta say it." "Really?" "Yeah, 'cept Eri. He's probably generally offended 'n a bit amused." Peter nodded and went back to watching the argument. 

Alvilda scowled, "I swear you two were trying to poison me!" Erinak pointed, "You're insulting the Eqalussuaq! Do you want Arnarquagsag to send Skalugsuak to punish you?!" "I'm sure you and Emil will eat him before he can touch me!" Emil motioned exasperatedly, "You can't eat the meat right away! We spent months getting the meat prepared!" 

Tino let out a small laugh, watching the current and former members of the Danish Realm argue.

Finally, getting fed up, Lukas pushed all three of them back into their seats, "Behave yourselves!" Alvilda crossed her arms and huffed, "You aren't in charge of me anymore, Lukas!" Erinak pointed, "You gave us up to Matt, so our misbehaving is your own fault!" Emil crossed his arms, "Stop treating me like a child! I'm a country!"

After a moment of silence, Lukas frowned and looked at Mathias, "What have you done to my lillesøster and Små brødre?" Alvilda and Emil both yelled, "Stop calling me that!" Erinak groaned, "I'm not even related to you!" 

Helmi huffed and stood up, pointing her finger at the three, "Now, this is your Storebror's birthday, so behave yourselves! He's gettin' old 'n can't handle all the stress anymore! Ya three have already made his hair go gray, so cut him some slack!" Emil frowned, "His hair's always been gray..." Alvilda looked at her betrayed, "Don't encourage him, Helmi! You're supposed to be on my side!" Erinak whined and held his arms up, "Since when am I even related to him?! We look nothing alike!" Lukas frowned, "Be quiet, Lillebror." Erinak groaned and slammed his head onto the table. 

Alvilda, at the end of her rope, stood up, "If I say it, will you all shut up?!?!" Lukas nodded, "Yes." Emil looked at her, gasping dramatically, "Don't do it! It'll only feed his ego!" She paled, "I know... but I need to get back to work..." Berwald looked at Emil, "Ya too, Ice." "WHAT?! She's volunteering!" Helmi shook her head, "You can't let your storesøster do this by herself." Mr. Puffin finally chimed in, "Get to it, tough guy!"

Alvilda muttered something and Lukas smirked, "What was that?" "GODDAMMIT, LUKAS!! I SAID 'STOREBROR'!" She crossed her arms, muttering expletives in a mix of Nordic languages. Erinak stood up and slapped his hand over her mouth, "Yes, Alvi, we know, you can put sailors to shame. Please do not demonstrate it." Alvilda pushed Erinak's hand away, "I got it, you git!" Helmi poked Emil's cheek, "Your turn, Emil~!" He huffed, quietly managing to say the dreaded word, "...Storebror." 

Lukas smiled, and Alvilda exploded, "GET THAT SHIT-EATING GRIN OFF YOUR FACE, YOU ASSHAT!" 

* * *

**June 5, Nordic Household: Mathias's Birthday**

Mathias grinned and looked at Emil and Alvilda, "Are you two going to call me big brother now?" Alvilda glared at him, "Shut the hell up, you Danish sod!" Erinak creased his brow, "Danish Grass? Why would you call him Danish Grass?" 

Erland groaned, "We need to stop celebrating birthdays... they just end up fighting..." Peter looked at Erland, "Helmi says that's how they say 'I love you' because they're too stubborn to say it." Tino nodded, "Basically." "Hmph! That's stupid!" 

Needless to say, Mathias's birthday ended with him passed out on the couch and smelling like beer.

Alvilda uncapped a bright blue sharpie and smirked, "Mustache?" Helmi nodded, "A curly one." She uncapped a black marker and smiled, "I'll give him Kirkland-brows. He'll freak out..." Alvilda looked over at him, "You know, you really creep me sometimes." "Eh? I do?" "Yeah." "Oh, well... sorry?" Alvilda started to draw on the Dane's face, "Eh, just get to work. And make sure they won't wash off..." 

* * *

**June 6, Nordic Household: Berwald's birthday**

Mathias's face was rubbed raw, with remnants of his blue mustache and black 'Kirkland-brows' still remaining. Alvilda insisted that her 'artwork' was her 'gift' to her Onkle Ber.

The only person who really appreciated it was Lukas. Who actually laughed  _loudly_ (And that strange noise promptly woke up half the household) amt about five thirty am when he went to go get something he had forgotten in the kitchen. 

Helmi finished cutting the cake (She insisted on doing it because if they weren't perfect squares she'd get annoyed), and Berwald ruffled her hair. "Ey! I just brushed it, don't tangle it all up again!" Alvilda looked over the cake slices, "This is why you're creepy." "Eh?!" "I really wanted to point something out to annoy you, but I can't find anything to point out..." Helmi huffed, "You're a devil, Alvi!" "Thanks, I do try." Alvilda picked up a slice of cake, "I like to think it's a gift."

Mathias looked at Lukas frowning, "She gets that from you, y'know." Alvilda yelled at them, "You aren't my flippin' parents, numbnuts! And stop acting like an old married couple!" Mathias frowned, "Hey, we're not an 'old married couple'! We're just a 'married couple'." Norway turned red and yelled, voice going up an octave, "What?!" "Bro, Denmark-Norway. We were totally married." "That was a personal union!" Helmi blinked, "Isn't that kinda the same thing? I mean... Marriage is a personal union!" Norway shook his head, "That was political! I've been in a lot of personal political Unions!" Helmi looked horrified, "Oh god, Ya were married ta Pappa... Like, three times then..." Tino nearly choked on his cake. Norway huffed, "If you think personal Union is the same as marriage, then Emil was married to Mathias." 

This turned into a huge argument about what legally constituted marriage... which they never really agreed on.

* * *

**June 17, Nordic Household: Emil's Birthday**

Emil looked at Erinak and Alvilda in disappointment and disbelief as they held out a package, trying not to laugh. "Yay... let me guess, it's a new sweater." Alvilda motioned, "You'll have to open it to find out." Sighing, Emil opened the box and pulled out a sweater. "Yay, another sweater." Alvilda pointed, "Be grateful we didn't get you another Lopapeysa! That sweater's from my place!" "...Thank you?" " _You're welcome_!" Alvilda huffed.

Mathias looked offended, "Why didn't I get a present?!" Alvilda glared over at him, "Because, putting up with you  _was_ the present... Plus, you have a good economy and have had a lot of birthdays! Emil's economy still is a bit rocky! ...By the way, you still need to pay me back, Emil." Emil paled, "That's right..." "Take your time... Just remember to pay your interest." Helmi paled, "Oh goodness, you sound like Lars..." Alvilda huffed, "Not all of us are shipping hubs! I need to make a living somehow!" Erinak huffed, "You should be happy you were able to give out a loan... I'm basically living off Denmark since I can't sell seal skin..." Helmi looked a little surprised, "Don't ya have a bunch 'a rubies 'n gold 'n oil 'n stuff?!" Erinak frowned, "Do you want to go up in northern Greenland to get it? In winter? In sub zero temperatures?" Helmi paled, "N-No thank ya..." 

Mathias looked at the sweater, "Dude! It looks just like the one from  _Forbrydelsen_!" Alvilda smiled proudly, crossing her arms, "So my skills are finally recognized..." "You made it?!" "Not personally, but it comes from my place." "Can you get me one?!" Alvilda smirked, "Oh, so  _now_ you like my sheep's wool? I thought it was 'waste material' after slaughter." Mathias pleaded, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeease! Can I have one?! Sofie Gråbøl was amazing it!" Alvilda huffed, "If you pay me." "Deal!" 

Mathias looked at Emil, grinning, "Hey, Icy, we'll match!"

Emil hid his face in his sweater, "Yay..." 

* * *

**June 21, Nordic Household: Erinak's Birthday**

Helmi frowned, "Matts! What were you thinking?! June 21st is a terrible day to do something like this!" "Hey, three straight days of partying sounds like a great idea." Erinak frowned, "Oh, so that's why you granted me farther autonomy? So you could get drunk three days straight instead of just one?" "No, well, kinda. But just going straight through the 22 to the 23 is a bonus!" 

Alvilda sighed, "What else would we expect?" She glanced over towards Erinak, "Now can you hand me the  _Tvøst og spik_?" Erinak crossed his arms, "I'm sorry, but there isn't any. But we do have  _Mattak_." Alvilda frowned, "You and your termonology!" "You and your idiocy! You only make  _Tvøst og spik_ out of pilot whale!  _Mattak_ uses Bowhead Whales!" Helmi chewed on the blubber, "It's like bubblegum! No matter how much you chew it, it doesn't do anything!" Erinak groaned, "Europeans!" Mathias frowned, "Wait, where's the cake?" Alvilda glared at him, "There is no cake, he wanted 'mattak' instead." "You guys never let me have any when we're here!"

Erland smiled and held his whale blubber in front of Peter, "Look at how weird it is." Peter huffed and stabbed his with his fork, "You eat weird stuff, Eri..." 

"WOULD EVERYONE STOP INSULTING MY FAVORITE FOOD?!?!"

* * *

Helmi smiled and buttoned up her light jacket as Erinak finished up dishes, "I'll see ya in a few days!" Erinak hummed, "Oh, that's right. We're celebrating at your place this year." "Yeah! I'm going ta go catch the ferry over quick 'n start getting ready! I need ta clean my place up a bit 'n help out with getting ready!" "You tell everyone else?" "Yeah!" "Alright, have a safe trip." "Thanks! Hold down the fort while I'm gone, okay?" Erinak nodded, "Got it." Picking her bag up, Helmi motioned at the door, "C'mon, Ankka! Home!" " _Kvack_ ~!" The duck excitedly started off towards the door. 

Helmi waved, " _Moi Moi_!" Erinak smiled, " _Baabaj_." 

Luckily, they were currently in Stockholm, so a ferry to Åland was pretty easy to get a ticket for. It was about two hours to get there. Picking Ankka up, Helmi headed through Stockholm to the correct docks to get to her islands. She was going to catch the noon ferry, so it would be around two or three when she got there. That would leave her time to get quite a few things done if she was efficient.

The Nordic family spent five months of the year together-April through July and December, also meeting up for holidays-and the other seven months at their own place. 

During the ferry ride over, she participated in what seemed to be a lost art-holding conversation with fellow passengers. 

Once reaching the Mariehamn port, she quickly got off and let out a laugh, missing the small town. Ankka quacked and Helmi sat her down, "Let's go home, Ankka!" 

It was a short walk to her house, just a few blocks. Standing in front of the two storied brick house that had been her abode for almost two centuries, she let out a small content sigh. 

The houses in the older part of town were beautiful (Helmi would use the words 'over extravagant', 'lonely', and 'overly spacious' when asked, though), and very distinct. Most of the houses build after were square or rectangular blocks. But most of the old houses in this part of town were an odd mix of Victorian and Art Nouveau styling and just plain strange planning in her opinion. The only place she had really seen similar architecture was around 410 KM away in Jūrmala, Latvia. When she and Raivis had painstakingly managed to get a few days off at the same time and get together there, once they arrived in the spa town, she felt oddly crept out by some of the similar buildings.

Smiling, she pulled the key out of her coat pocket and unlocked the door, switching on the lights and whispering, "I'm home..." 

Instantly feeling the need to do  _something_ , she hung her coat up and went to the kitchen, pulling out a duster and starting to clean. She smiled as she dusted the bookshelf, just looking at the old books made her happy. Most having cloth covers and faded titles on the spines. A first addition of  _Katrina_  (Gifted to her by Sally Salminen herself), quite a few of Ulla-Lena Lundberg's books, half a shelf devoted to Anni Viktoria Karlsson's books, a few of Jeremy Duns (Although not a native Ålander, she still had a soft spot for him as he lived in her isles now), and other assorted novels by assorted Ålanders. The top shelf was the only one with foreign works, and consisted mostly of poetry. It was lined with works of Thomas Moore, Harry Martinson's  _Aniara_ , one or two collections of Emily Dickinson's, a few of Pablo Neruda, and a small leather-bound book in the corner that she kept notes in and jotted down thoughts-after a few thousand years, your memory gets pretty full. 

After cleaning the living room up, she sighed and moved on to cleaning up the rest of the houses, making a mental note to remember to change the sheets in the bedrooms before the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter! Nordic Summer: Part 2!  
> Midsummer on Åland! Maypoles! Saunas! Dancing! Bonfires! ...Little frogs?!?  
> Yes, Little Frogs!


	8. Nordic Summer! Part Two!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midsummer on Åland! Maypoles! Saunas! Dancing! Bonfires! ...Little frogs?!?  
> Yes, Little Frogs!  
> Kou ack ack ack ack ack...  
> Catchy little frogs~!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Names for midsummer:   
> Jóansøka: Faroese | Sankthansaften: Danish | Jonsok: Norwegian | Johannes Kastaja: Finnish | Juhannus: Finland Swedish | Midsommar: Swedish | Jāņi: Latvian

**June 22, Åland: Midsummer's Eve Eve!**

Helmi stood in front of the docks, smiling as she awaited the ferry from Stockholm. 

Once it arrived, she stood off to the side as the regular passengers got off, waving once she caught sight of Berwald, "Moi! Over here, Pappa! Isä!" Berwald nodded and the rest of the Nordics weaved their way through the ever busy port. 

Peter looked excitedly over the water, "Hey, what's that ship?!" He pointed at an old, wooden windjammer that was docked outside the ports. "Ah, that's the  _Pommern_! One a' only five like her left! She's just a museum piece now, but she was quite the ship when she was built! Quite a lucky one too! Low loss of live, ran ashore once, completely dismasted once, survived both world wars in one piece... She's a pretty lucky old gal!" "It looks so cool!" Tino laughed, "You should've seen it when it was still in service. We'll visit it before we leave, okay?" 

Emil frowned, "People are staring..." Alvilda frowned, "There's a puffin on your head. Normal people don't have puffins on their heads." Erinak frowned and whispered, "Actually, I think it's Onkle Ber again." Alvilda sighed, "That's right, I'm almost used to how tall he is..." 

Lukas looked around, "It looks exactly the same..." Helmi huffed, offended, and pointed, "It doesn't! We've really cleaned up since last time you came!" 

Mathias smiled, "Hey, that one brewery still there?" Helmi sighed, "Yes, Matts! But ya probably shouldn't go there tonight-" "Sweet! I know what I'm doing tonight!" Alvilda looked at him dismayed, "Do you hear things when people speak, or do they just fly over your head?" "Eh? What's over my head?" Emil sighed, "You amaze me, Mathias..." 

* * *

**June 23, Åland: Jóansøka-Sankthansaften-Jonsok-Johannes Kastaja-Juhannus-Midsommar-Jāņi-Midsummer's eve**  (They can't seem to agree on the name...)

Helmi knitted her brow, trying to put together a flower crown for Midsummer quickly. After finishing, she smiled and took a quick picture of it

Helmi smiled, knowing that Raivis took Midsummer  _very_ seriously. It was a huge thing at his place, like it was with the Nordics. 

Alvilda frowned, "You better not expect me to wear one of those." Helmi frowned, "It's tradition! C'mon, Alvi!" Alvilda groaned, "This is why I hate celebrating here. All your flowers and maypoles and songs and things! At my place we just light things on fire!" Erinak shrugged, "We don't even celebrated it at my place." "The flowers 'r 'spposed ta keep ya safe for the rest a' the year!" "They're flowers, Helmi. Flowers can't do anything except be flowers." Erinak seemed to think, "But I do have a festival dedicated to building Snow Sculptures, and then there's the Adventure Race..." Helmi looked at him, "I have one for organs. 'N my Viking Festival is coming up soon... 'n I've added one for Sea Shanties recently!" 

Alvilda sweatdropped, "You're as bad as Setä..." Helmi held her finger up, "No, he just does holidays! I devote whole  _festivals_ to things!" "You always have to one up him, don't you..." "Yes! I will 'til his government stops with its language crusades!!" Erinak sighed, "Yeah, I'm not really a festival guy... but my brother in Alaska seems to be... he has a holiday where people throw people into the air..." "...Well, I guess he was with Ivan for a while. Maybe his insanity wore off..." "Oh, no, Aklaq is just crazy. I think he has a death wish or something. I mean, really, that's the only explanation I can think of for him. Luckily that skipped me. The only good thing he's done in the past few centuries that I approve of is the Iditarod..."

Alvilda smirked, "He always creams you, though." "He has home field advantage! I cream him in most of the Canadian races and the Baltic Race! Plus Aaja is a way better lead dog than Rambo and Hobo! He needs  _two lead dogs_ to even  _compete_ with my Aaja!" "Yeah, Erinak, just keep telling yourself that..."

Mathias came down the steps and groaned, "What's for breakfast?" "Ya have the choice a' cereal or running down ta the Bakery down the road for Kanelbulle 'n Wienerbröd. I'm planning on going after I finish my coffee." "Ugh... walking... it's too early..." "I told ya not ta visit the brewery last night!" "But  _Honey Beer_! _Honey beer_! It's amazing!"  

* * *

It was around noon, and the may pole was going to be raised soon, and the youth organization was serving coffee and Åland pancakes. Helmi and Berwald were helping out with securing the decorations onto the maypole and hanging the crowns on the cross bars. 

Helmi was dressed up in her [Folkdräkt](https://www.expeditions.com/globalassets/der-images/OR/OR81623/OR82616A.jpg) and flower crown, going all the way for the celebration like normal. She never took half steps, it was always all or nothing for her.

After Tino finished his coffee, he headed over and started to help them get it up (It didn't take long after Tino started to help). 

At the top was a figure of a man, below it flew the Åland flag. Small boats circled around under the flag, the sea wind moving the decoration. The crossbars were coated by leaves and flowers, and the bright paper 'crowns' hung from them. 

The guy who seemed to be announcing everything yelled something out in what could only be assumed to be Swedish, and Erinak blinked, "What?" Helmi whispered, "They're going ta play the anthem."  
  
After the awkward 'Do I put my hand over my heart or...' moment and the anthem ended, a small band started.

The MC yelled out in Swedish, "Come on, We are Swedish! We are not Norwegians! We can walk while we play our fiddles!" (True story, someone yelled this at a Midsummer's celebration I was at...) The Nordic languages were close enough to each other that everyone had a decent idea of what that meant. Helmi paled, "Sorry, but I'm not even going to apologize for that Norwegian joke... or any Norwegian or Danish jokes ta come..." Alvilda motioned, "Well I finally found a reason to like your place. Norwegian jokes." "Oh, the Danish ones 'r brutal..."

After a short while, Peter managed to drag almost everyone (Minus Mathias, who joined of his own free will to embarrass Lukas) into the circle dances going on around the maypole. 

Helmi laughed, pulling Peter along as the small band played _Små Grodorna_. He wasn't even sure what it was saying half the time, but it was catchy and had a fun dance. 

_Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack,_  
_kou ack ack ack ack kaa._  
_Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack,_  
_kou ack ack ack ack kaa._

Was the only part he really understood, and he was pretty sure it was like 'lalalalalalala'. 

But it was really catchy. He'd have to ask what it was about later. Probably ducks. 

_Små grodorna, små grodorna är lustiga att se._  
_Små grodorna, små grodorna är lustiga att se._  
_Ej öron, ej öron, ej svansar hava de._  
_Ej öron, ej öron, ej svansar hava de._

(The little frogs, the little frogs are funny to observe.  
The little frogs, the little frogs are funny to observe.  
No ears, no ears, no tails do they possess.  
No ears, no ears, no tails do they possess.)

* * *

After Sauna, it was bonfire time.

Emil tried to strike a match to get the bonfire going, only to fail. Multiple times. 

Peter looked around, "Where's Eri?" Helmi smiled a bit awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck, "Ah, he's not really a big fan a' fire... he gets a little skiddish, so he stayed inside..." Peter frowned, "Yeah, I don't really like fire, either..." 

Emil finally managed to light the bonfire and Mathias grinned, "If you can turn a floor into lava, why do you need a match to start a fire?" Emil groaned, obviously not thinking of that.

Lukas looked at Mathias with a small smirk, "You know they jump over the bonfires in some parts of the world as celebration?" Mathias looked surprised, "Really?!?" "Yeah. That's what Vlad told me." The Dane looked at the fire, "I'm gonna try it! Sounds like fun!" Helmi frowned, "Hey! Luke also sets up fake marriages for midsummer, 'r ya gonna do that too?!" "How many times do I get a chance to jump over fire, though?!" 

Tino sighed, "I'll get a pail of water..." Alvilda waved him off, "There's literally an ocean three feet away, don't worry!" She slung her arm around Mathias's shoulders, "Alright, first things first, you gotta get a running start. Then you have to jump, not fall into the fire, and preferably survive or leave your whole kingdom to me. Got it?" "Got it!" Alvilda pulled him back a few meters before patting his back and smirking, "Ready?" Helmi held her hand up, "Wait a minute!" She aimed her phone's camera at Mathias, "Okay! Good!" Mathias started to run and jumped over the fire, landing on the other side rather clumsily. 

Tino screamed, " _MATT, YOUR COAT! IT'S ON FIRE_!" Mathias looked at the back of his coat before screaming, trying to brush it out. Tino continued to freak, Helmi was recording, Alvilda was contemplating helping or laughing, Emil looked rather disappointed, and Berwald looked unamused. Just then, Lukas pushed him into the water, "Idiot."

Erland and Peter were laughing as Helmi showed them the video. "Can I upload this?!" Helmi laughed, "Go for it."

* * *

**June 24th**

The next morning, Mathias and Lukas were practically useless for the rest of the day (Mathias from Drinking, Lukas from chasing after a drunk Dane). Tino had taken Peter to see the Maritime museum, Alvilda and Emil were heading to go look at one of the bird watching spots, and Helmi was taking Erland to Önningeby. 

Meanwhile, Berwald and Erinak were enjoying the quiet. 

"...Uh, well, ya gettin' ready f'r Polardistans yet?" Erinak hummed, "Polardistans? Oh, yeah. I look forward to it! I'm trying to talk Vash and Mathew into participating, but I don't think I'll be able to get Vash to come..." Erinak sighed, "Shame, he has a great sled team. But one of my Swing dogs, Equ, is having issues with his back hip, so I might have to change him out for Erna, who's a bit younger and I've never used in a real race before, so I'm hoping he heals up quick, otherwise I might not be in a good position..." 

And so it went, with Berwald putting in 'hm's and 'mm's here and there, completely lost in the mushing terminology. All he really knew was that Erinak was an avid participator in the sport and he hosted one race, there were a few in Norway, the Baltics had a whole set, and Erinak's brother who lived with Alfred was famous for them. He knew nothing about lead dogs or swing dogs or team dogs or wheel dogs, and he was clueless about Gang Line Vs Fan Hitch, not to mention he had no clue what half the terminology even meant. But he just sat there, listening to the adjustments Erinak was thinking about making and some technical nonsense.

* * *

Helmi smiled, "Hey, Petey! Whaddya think 'bout my Maritime museum?" "Oh! It was cool! Can you take me to see the  _Pommern_ sometime?!" "Oh, of course! Y'know, I used ta run ta Jett 'n Arthur all the time in that ol' thing, delivering grain. When we go I'll tell ya all about it 'n the  _Great Grain Races_ I won, 'kay?" "Sweet!"

Tino smiled, "How did you like the museum at Önningeby, Erland?" "It was pretty cool... I guess." "Oh, he 'n Kjell went on for a while! I haven't had time to paint for a while, so I was a bit lost... but it sounded like ya two got along great!" "You should see some of his paintings! He's been all over to paint!" "I like the ones with the birds myself..." "The mountain ones were amazing!" Tino let out a small laugh, "Sounds like you had lots of fun!" "Yeah! Hey, where's that one painting you told me about?!" "Oh, Vicky's? It's in the hall, c'mon!"

So Helmi and her two 'little brothers' headed down the hall to see the painting as Alvilda, Emil, Mr. Puffin, and Ankka came back in from bird watching. "Just because they look like puffins, doesn't mean they  _are_ puffins! You scared everything off, you stupid bird!" " _Kvack_ ~!" Erinak frowned, "No luck?" Alvilda huffed, "There was luck, but then there was an Auk, and Mr. Puffin thought it was a baby puffin and tried to adopt it, screaming for it's parents-but it was a  _fucking five year old auk_! After that, all we got were some little wrens.  _I didn't want to see the wrens, I wanted to see the_ _nightingales_!"

Emil frowned, glaring at the puffin, "Next time, I'm leaving you at home." 

Tino looked at the two men still sitting on the couch, "What'd you two do today?" "...not much." "Just talked, well, I talked." "Ah..." "How'd the Maritime museum go?" "Oh, most of it was in Swedish so I had to read it to Peter... but he didn't seem to mind... But we didn't have time to go see the _Pommern_ part, so that was a bit sad..." 

* * *

 

**June 25th**

Helmi leaned on the ferry's railing,  _I'll be back in a few weeks... End of July, like always..._ _Right after Alvi's birthday..._ She smiled,  _Ah, fall is always pretty on the islands..._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly... Åland has a lot of festivals. I mean, A LOT. She must be trying to one-up Finland on the strange holidays by having a bunch of festivals... Seriously, she was going to be really different until I found out they throw festivals for everything... Sea shanties, multiple ones for music, sea days, viking festivals, harvests, rowing, organs, jazz... SEA SHANTIES! I NEVER KNEW THEY DEVOTED FESTIVALS TO SEA SHANTIES!


	9. Back to Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the last of the summer's gone... they all head back to their places.

**July 29, Nordic Household: Alvilda's Birthday**

Peter looked at the plate in front of him, "Did you burn it?" Alvilda frowned, "It's supposed to be black, Peter. That's just how the whale meat looks." "It looks like Jerk Arthur cooked it!" Erinak downed some water, "How much salt did you put in there?!" "It's  _brined blubber_ , you fool! what did you expect?!" "A little less salt! I like to taste my food under the seasoning!" "Says the boy who drowns his food in Angelica!" "Don't insult my seasoning! It's traditional!" "So's mine!" 

Mathias poked his whale meat, "No cake again... just... whale... Poor whale..." Mr. Puffin looked over at Mathias's plate, "I'll eat it for ya!" Alvilda glared at the puffin, "You know, another one of my favorite dishes is Smoked puffin, I'll make it for you guys sometime." Mr. Puffin let out a loud cry of alarm before hopping back to Emil. "Don't threaten him like that, Alvi!" Alvilda scowled, "That puffin is more annoying than Troll!" "Hey, leave Troll out of this." Emil pointed, "He's better than your Fossegrim!" Alvilda pointed her fork at him, "Grim is the best Violinist I have ever heard, what can your little penguin wanna be do?" "He's a puffin!" "You're just jealous that the Húsvættir like my house better than yours!" "THEY DO NOT!" "Then why do none visit you?" 

Erland frowned, "What are they even going on about?" Helmi smiled, "Ah, Alvi's magic housekeepers and her invisible violinist, I think. I've never seen them, but I'm pretty sure they're there!" "They sound way cooler than Jerk Arthur's fairies..." "I think Luke has those..." "Then what does Emil have?" "Uh... I dunno. He has a puffin, I just know that..." 

"OH MY GOD LUKAS, TELL THE LITTLE CREEP TO GET OFF OF ME!" "Stop arguing with Emil." Alvilda brushed her front, "Getitoffgetitoffgetitoffgetitoff! OH MY GOD LUKAS!! GET IT OFF!" 

Tino just stared at the three befuddled. 

Helmi on the other hand, could never quite spot the little creatures, but she didn't doubt Alvilda's word... plus, there had to be  _some_ reason for the disembodied violin music and her house always being spotless. And Helmi found Magic Creatures to be an amazing reason, fantasy was her second favorite Genre after all.

Erinak on the other hand... he simply chocked all of it up to Europeans being weird and everyone leaving him out of the loop.

* * *

**July 31, Cardiff, Wales, UK: World Meeting!**

Owen cleared his throat, "Ah, thanks for coming... I hope you're enjoying my place... on the agenda for today is-" Alfred yelled, "Alright guys, I got a new idea on how to solve global warming! We make a giant-" Ludwig yelled, "GIANT ROBOTS SOLVE NOTHING!" 

Erinak looked down the table a bit at Lars, "Can you please get Greenpeace in check? They're really threatening my people's culture." "Hey! That's not Big brother's fault!" Erinak frowned, "Their headquarters is in Amsterdam. And not only have they occupied one of my oil rigs, one of the few things that fuels my economy, but they're all up in my people's faces like 'Stop hunting whales and polar bears and all your other important food sources! They'll go extinct!' WELL THEY'LL DIE IF THEY STOP HUNTING, AND IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE KILLING HUNDREDS! WE'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR CENTURIES AND THEY'RE STILL THERE!" 

Alvilda slowly scooted her chair away from the growing chaos and sighed, "Here we see Idiots in their natural habitat... Fascinating, isn't it?" 

"Hey, like, stop harassing Liet!" 

"Here we see the  _Pony-Hording-Pole_ protecting his chosen mate."

"Heracles! You're asleep already!?!?!" 

"Zzzzz... catzzzzzzzz..." 

"And here is a rare example of the  _Old-Bitter-Coffee-Dude_ the  _Sleepisaurus_ interacting..."

"AGINCOURT!" 

"And the  _British Windbag_ is once again bringing up an old victory to insult someone in the present..."

"Shut up, you black sheep of Europe!" 

"And here is the  _French Fright_ retorting accordingly..."

"Hey, Francy-Pants, go back to making fries, okay?" 

"And the strange  _Burger-Brained Jabberwocky_ teams up with his usual enemy, the  _British Windbag_ to subdue the _French Fright_..."

"Did you know Jackie Chan is actually from Korea~?" 

"The flashy  _Korean Mockingbird_ will claim anything, even if you wright your name on it..."

"Emil, like, hold my juice." 

"And here the  _Asian Anguished Teen_ goes to reclaim what is rightfully his, while trusting the  _Scandinavian_ _Anguished Teen_ to guard his remaining sustinance..."

"LEON! DON'T ATTACK YONG SOO!" "SHUT UP OLD MAN THIS IS PERSONAL!"

"Here the  _Nursing-Home-Escapee-_ _Aru_ tries to restrain the  _Asian Anguished Teen_..."

"EVERYONE! SHUT UP!" 

"And the _German_ _Potatosaurus_  asserts his dominance by bursting everyone's eardrums..."

"Ve~ Kiku, we should go get pasta after this~!"

"The _Pastatarian_ _'s_ diet consists mainly of grain products, namely: pasta."

"This is not the prace to discuss this, Feliciano-Kun." 

"If it weren't for the  _Vacant-eyed_ _-Japanese_ , the  _Pastatarian_ would probably run wild."

"WE HATE ENGLAND, WE HATE ENGLAND, WE HATE ENGLAND MORE THAN YOU!" 

"Ah, that is the sound of the combined call of the  _Irish Potatosaurus_ and the _Kilted_ _Scotsman_...." 

"Allistor! Alroy! This isn't a football game! We agreed you'd only do that chant at football games!"

"And there is the  _High-strung_ _Welsh_ trying to control his psychotic brethren... This is why having one child per family is advantageous in this species: They end up with a longer life expectancy." 

"AHHAAAAAHAHAHHAHA!" 

Alvilda looked to her right, face darkening, "Gilbert. I swear to god if you were recording-!" 

"That was great! Keep going!" 

"And here we see the last of his kind, the rare  _Prussian Jackass_ , which in a few minutes, will be an extinct species." 

Gilbert frowned, "Yeah, that wasn't very funny." Alvilda picked up the vase that was on the little decorative table and threw it at him, scowling. "AGH! AUTCH!" 

"Um, Ivan... please get off of Mathiew..." "Eh? What was that, Greenland?" "...You're sitting on my neighbor." "Eh? Oh, sorry, Mathew!" "Thank you, Erinak..." "No problem."

Nikola sweatdropped, "Uh, Vlad... why did you bring your Cimbalom?" Vladimir ignored him and smiled, "Alright, Roddy! Hit it!" "You do not 'hit' the piano. You play it." "Well just start making music!" "Hmph." And with that, an odd mix of Romanian folk music and Franz Liszt filled the air.

Alvilda sighed, "It's a shitstorm as usual..." "VLAD! STOP THAT AWFUL NOISE, YOU'RE RUINING THE _MEPHISTO POLKA_!" "SHUT UP, ELIZABETA!" 

Helmi frowned as she looked at Raivis, "Well, _The_ _Summer's Book_ wasn't as sad as  _Lāčplēsis_ , but it was still kinda depressin'..." "Yeah, we need to find a happy book to ready... like Fantasy... or a nice Romance?" "Oh, Romance! Those 'r the best!" "Ah, I'm pretty fond of them too..." Helmi laughed, "I've noticed!" 

Alvilda yelled, "For fuck's sake, you Danish Sod! Stop bothering Onkle Ber!" Erinak looked at her completely exasperated, "Since when is grass an insult?!"

* * *

For some reason, Owen did not support large groups of nations going out to get drunk. So here they were, arguing about what language sounded best.

"I don't know, I think the Spanish word for butterfly is nice 'mariposa'." "What about 'papillon', pretty, oui?" "What about you, Gil?" Gilbert smiled, "Schmetterling is German for Butterfly." "...sometimes I wonder if you make these words up." 

Lukas frowned, slipping into a western dialect of Norwegian, "Fivreld... yet another butterfly, I suppose..." Berwald shrugged, "Mysa." Erinak looked at Helmi and she smiled, "'Cozy up'." "Oh." Mathias smiled, "Forår! Spring! For sure!" Alvilda shrugged, "Eh... Not the best Danish word I've heard... But 'ávøkstur'-Fruit-is one of my favorite words." Tino hummed, "Ihmeellinen... 'amazing'... but it sounds nice." Erinak shrugged, "My favorite word is Qanuinngittunga... 'I'm fine'... I think that's nice to hear in general no matter what the language, though..." Alvilda sighed, "You're such a-" Emil sighed, breaking the fight up before it could go farther, "Raðljóst. 'Window weather'." "Oh, so any weather at your place?" "...Basically. What about you, Helmi?"

Helmi smiled, "Ah, Kehtolaulu." Alvilda frowned, "100% percent sure that isn't Swedish." "Oh, it's Finnish... it means 'lullaby'. I think Finnish sounds nice in general. Even if Swedish is my official language, I like the sound of Finnish. It's so pretty sometimes~!" Tino smiled, "Ah, that's nice to hear..." "Yeah, it just sounds so melodic sometimes! ...but I find Swedish more practical. At least Finnish words aren't as long as Erinak's..." "Kalaallisut is a word-based language, not sentence-based."

Sometime between getting there and everything getting blurry, Ivan had found Vodka and Vladimir had broken out some highly alcoholic Romanian ~~Brandy~~ fruit juice. 

Helmi looked at Alvilda, "Okay, but what if the reason we get away with world meetings like this is 'cos after our bosses drop us off, they go do  _the actual meeting_." Alvilda sighed, "Remind me never to give you any alcohol ever again. You're one of those annoying philosophers when drunk." "Alvi, I've had one beer.  _One_! There's no way I can get drunk on  _one_ beer!" "Sure, Helmi. Sure."

Helmi groaned, "Oh my goodness, Alvi! I would cuss but ya do enough a' that for both a' us!" Raivis laughed, "Just go with it... that's what I do..." "Just 'cos I look like a sixteen year old doesn't mean I can't hold my liqueur! I sailed with vikings!  _Vikings_! I  _lived_  on beer during my childhood! I'm surrounded by salt water, too! What was I supposed ta drink?!?!" "I get it all the time too..." "But ya can hold more than I can! Gah!" Helmi shook her head, "This all makes my head hurt worse than Malaria!" " _Kvack~_!" "Yes, Ankka, I'm very grateful that ya eat my mosquitoes!"

Helmi scrolled through the list of books on her phone, "Back ta the topic, though.... Hmm...  _Moth and Spark_... 'A Tale of Magic, Adventure 'n True Love'... sounds 'bout right..." "True love is always good..." "Adventure 'n magic don't hurt either..." After reading the description, they agreed on the book. There were dragons. They were sold.

* * *

**August 2, Cardiff Airport: Departures**

It was late morning, and the countries had just finished up their goodbyes and were all heading off to find where they needed to be for their flights.

Alvilda shrugged, "Well, I only have three flights and a one hour bus ride this time..." Erinak sweat dropped, "I have four flights... again." Helmi shrugged, "I think we all have at least two..." "How many flights you stuck with?" "Ah, three..." 

This was a bit of a competition between them: Seeing who would have the shortest flight time. 

Alvilda had to go Cardiff-Dublin-Copenhagen-Vágar (4 h 25 min in air). Berwald had to go Cardiff-Dublin-Stockholm (3 h 40 min). Emil had to go Cardiff-Dublin-Reykjavík (4 h). Erinak got stuck with Cardiff-Dublin-Copenhagen-Kangerlussuaq-Nuuk (8 h 45 min). Helmi had to go Cardiff-Dublin-Helsinki-Mariehamn (4 h 55 min). Lukas had to go Cardiff-Dublin-Oslo (3 h 10 min). Mathias had to go Cardiff-Dublin-Copenhagen (3 hour 10 min). Tino had Cardiff-Dublin-Helsinki (4 h).

Erinak lost this round. Airports were not his specialty. The only time he got home first is when they were in the Americas.

* * *

**Oslo, Norway**

Lukas let out a sigh as he closed the front door. It was  _quiet_. It was almost foreign to him now, the silence, not the house. Despite enjoying the months the Nordics spent together, there was barely any quiet. 

* * *

**Copenhagen, Denmark**

Mathias frowned, it was tooooooooooooooo quiet for his liking. He was still trying to get used to living alone most of the year, Alvilda and Erinak had lived with him until just a few years ago since all he handled for them now was pretty much just their foreign affairs. Sighing, he went over towards the TV and pulled out a random CD and put it in the player, turning the volume all the way up just to create a noise.

* * *

**Stockholm, Sweden**

Unlike the other Nordics, Berwald didn't have any sort of quiet road home. Peter and Erland had been arguing most of the way. As soon as they were back at his house, they both went to their separate rooms and there was finally quiet. Well, at least they weren't around during the Kalmar Union. Three young territories was enough then. Two seemed to be more than enough now. How some of the huge empires like England and France handled so many young territories at once, he didn't know. He loved them all dearly, but they were going to be the death of him. 

* * *

**Reykjavík, Iceland**

Emil silently stood in his doorway. His house, although in the middle of the capital, was quiet. It was pleasant. And at least Norway was too far away to bother him most of the time. 

The silence didn't last long, though, as Mr. Puffin started to make a large ruckus as soon as he found something to complain about. "HEY! Tough guy! Can you open the fridge for me?!"

* * *

**Helsinki, Finland**

Tino's smiled as he entered his house, flicking his lights on and putting in some headphones as he went about tidying up... at least that was his intention. Instead, he ended 'tidying up' by singing along to 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' while using a duster as a microphone. 

* * *

**Mariehamn, Åland Islands**

(House [Example](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f7/29/49/f72949da4c69d4fb33ee9fa98f17cf26--colorful-houses-archipelago.jpg)! This is one of the pretty houses in Mariehamn! Gah~! So pretty~!)

Helmi smiled, once again approaching her house. Letting out a sigh of relief as she opened the door, she took her shoes off and crashed on the couch. "Ah, Ankka, I'm tired..." The duck plopped down on the couch, " _Kvack_..." "Ah, I know..." 

* * *

**Tórshavn,** **Faroe Islands**

([Example ](https://www.demilked.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/grass-roofs-green-houses-scandinavia-8.jpg)for House... It's a hobbit house and no one can tell me otherwise.)

Alvilda sighed, an hour bus ride under sea after four and a half hour flight was not at all comfortable. But, she only had one air port. Pulling her suitcase behind her as she headed the rocky alley way to her house, she smiled slightly. It was small, like all the houses on the island. It was a simple, just the way she liked it. It was an old sod-roofed house, the outside painted black with red trim. She smiled as she saw one of the small Húsvættr peeking out the window. She really did miss her islands when she was away, but what country didn't?

Unlocking her door, she was instantly greeted by many small Húsvættir, the little creatures she trusted her house to while she was away. "Ah, yes, I've missed all of you too. Now, let me rest up and then I'll fill you all in." 

* * *

**Nuuk, Greenland**

(House for [reference](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4bwNqPKtT5M/UEjjHf6m6UI/AAAAAAAASDQ/ZjsRioFR5qM/s1600/Colourful+houses+in+green+land..jpg)! IS IT BRIGHT ENOUGH?)

Erinak smiled as he spotted his brightly colored house from down the road. It was originally been a sand tan beige, but that was pretty hard to find in the winter, so he had painted it vibrant, warm colors. It was small and simple, almost perfectly square, but he didn't mind. He had lived in Igloos at various points of his life, so he was rather accustomed to strange housing arrangements. 

Smiling, he knelt down and was instantly welcomed by his sled dogs, "Aa, aap! App! I missed you guys too! Malik took good care of you, right? Yes, yes! I missed you! No! Iaaku! We don't eat my suit case! That's my best one!" laughing, he crouched down and began scratching his dogs, "I know, I haven't come back in two months... but Onkle Ber said I couldn't bring you guys, I'm sorry... but we're going to start going out with new patrol members soon, so we'll make up for it then. Those new guys probably don't even know when to fire hollow points yet." 


End file.
